LIBRARY 

I    UNIVERSITY  OF    I 
VcAllFORNIA/ 


«9' 


THE 


LIFE  OF  JAMES  WILLIAMS, 


BETTER   KNOWN   AS 


FOR   HALF   A    CENTURY 


JANITOR    OF    TRINITY    COLLEGE. 


BY 


C.  H.  PROCTOR, 


A   MEMBER   OF   THE    CLASS    OF    '73. 


HARTFORD: 

CASE,  LOCKWOOD  &  BRATNARD,  PRINTERS. 
1  873. 


LOAN  STACK 


17 


p 


EDICATED 


TO     THEJ     INTERESTS     OF 


WHOSE    NAME  APPEARS   ON    THE 

TITLE  PAGE. 


114 


I. 

"I  say  the  tale  as  t'was  said  to  me."— SCOTT. 


LIFE  OF 

a 


PROF.    JIM. 


IN  tracing  out  the  life  of  the  venerable  janitor 
whose  name  is  so  familiar  to  the  alumni  of  Trinity 
College,  we  are  taken  backwards  in  time  to  a  period 
of  which  few  men  now  living  have  any  remembrance ; 
chiefly  because  "Prof.  Jim"  has  advanced  beyond 
the  years  allotted  to  man's  portion,  and  his  younger 
days  were  passed  amidst  scenes  which  have  become 
historic. 

He  does  not  celebrate  his  birthday,  mainly  because 
he  hasn't  the  faintest  idea  of  the  time  of  its  recur 
rence,  or  even  of  his  age  at  all,  but  certain  data 
remain  fixed  in  his  mind,  and  a  simple  calculation 
will  give  his  approximate  age.  He  says,  "  I  dis 
tinctly  remember,  wearing  a  smock-frock  and  belt, 
and  playing  about  the  door-yard  of  my  master's 
house,  when  I  heard  bells  a  ringin'  and  cannons  a 
firm',  and  I  ran  in  and  asked  my  mother  what  was 


8  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

the  matter, and  she  said,'  Why, Washington's  dead.' '! 
Other  circumstances  connected  with  his  life  a  few 
years  later,  indicate  that  Jim  was  born  about  the 
year  1T90. 

He  was  the  third  of  six  children,  and  his  mother 
was  a  French  Creole,  a  slave  belonging  to  a  retired 
Revolutionary  officer,  one  Col.  Robert,  who  owned  a 
large  estate  in  Yonkers,  New  York.  His  father  was 
a  freedman,  and  did  not  even  live  in  the  same  town 
with  Jim's  mother,  but  in  Nyack,  and  although  he 
visited  his  wife  frequently,  coming  up  the  river  in 
his  own  boat,  yet  he  would  return  again  shortly  to 
his  own  home  ;  he  did  not  live  with  his  family  until 
Col.  Robert  gave  his  wife  her  freedom.  A  number 
of  years  of  Jim's  early  life  were  passed  in  Yonkers 
and  New  York  city,  but  as  he  expressively  terms  it, 
all  those  places  have  "  outgrowed"  him,  and  Ms  New 
York  is  not  the  city  of  this  generation. 

New  York  city,  according  to  an  enthusiastic  writer 
of  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  was  then  a 
beautiful  town  about  four  miles  in  length,  situated 
at  the  foot  of  Manhattan  island. 

The  principal  streets  were  Pearl  street,  Broadway, 
and  Greenwich  street.  "  These  run  the  whole  length 
of  the  city,  and  are  intersected,  though  not  at  right 
angles,  by  streets  running  from  river  to  river.  Pearl 
street,  near  the  East  river,  pursues  a  narrow  and 
devious  course  through  a  populous  part  of  the  city, 
and  is  the  seat  of  great  business.  Broadway  passes 


PROF.    JIM. 

in  a  straight  line  over  the  highest  ground  between 
the  two  rivers,  and  is  the  noblest  avenue  of  the  kind 
in  America.  Greenwich  street  pursues  a  nearly 
straight  course  between  Broadway  and  the  Hudson, 
and  is  wide  and  elegant.  Chatham  street  is  a  noble 
spaceway  leading  from  Broadway  into  Bowery  road. 
Washington  street  is  a  splendid  avenue  near  the 
Hudson. 

"  The  streets  are  generally  well  paved,  with  good 
sidewalks,  arid  every  part  of  the  city  is  well  supplied 
with  lamps. 

"  The  Park  is  a  beautiful  promenade  of  about  four 
acres,  on  the  south  side  of  Broadway,  and  near  the 
center  of  the  city. 

"  The  modern  houses  in  New  York  are  mostly  of 
brick,  and  are  generally  well  built ;  many  of  them  are 
elegant.  Among  the  public  edifices  are  now  in 
cluded  more  than  one  hundred  churches,  which  are 
occupied  by  the  various  denominations  for  religious 
worship.  The  steeple  of  St.  Paul's  is  probably  not* 
excelled  by  any  in  the  Union.  The  front  of  the 
new  church  in  Wall  street  is  handsome.  The  City 
Hall,  situated  at  the  head  of  the  Park,  is  a  noble 
specimen  of  architecture,  and  one  of  the  most  superb 
buildings  in  the  United  States. 

"  The  number  of  houses  in  the  city  of  New  York 
in  1800  amounted  to  about  20,000,  and  the  popula 
tion  to  100,000." 

Yonkers  was  a  series  of  plantations,  and  the  beau- 


10  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

tiful  town  with  which  most  of  us  are  familiar,  was 
hardly  dreamed  of  in  those  days. 

Col.  Robert  was  a  hard-working  man,  and  although 
one  of  the  wealthiest  in  that  part  of  the  state,  and 
the  largest  slaveholder  in  the  neighborhood,  owning 
nine  working  hands,  yet  he  worked  with  his  men, 
and  was  very  strict,  enforcing  constant  labor  "  from 
sun  to  sun."  He  did  not  depend  wholly  on  his  own 
household  for  assistance  in  the  fields,  but  employed 
about  twenty  men  besides  during  the  haying  and 
harvesting  season. 

Prof.  Jim  testifies  to  the  kindness  of  his  mas 
ter  in  providing  food  and  clothes  for  his  slaves,  and 
in  supplying  comforts  to  them  from  his  own  table  ; 
and  after  making  due  allowance  for  the  propensity 
of  slaves  to  magnify  their  master's  social  position, 
we  can  conclude  that  Col.  Robert  was  a  man  of  some 
distinction.  That  he  was  intimately  connected  with 
men  prominent  in  the  politics  of  the  day  Jim  firmly 
insists,  and  declares  that  he  has  himself,  at  his  mas 
ter's  direction,  driven  from  New  York  to  Croton 
many  a  time,  posting  bills  and  circulating  pam 
phlets  advertising  the  candidates  for  election  in  whom 
his  master  was  interested.  Aaron  Burr  was  one  of 
these  intimate  friends  of  Col.  Robert,  and  it  was  at 
the  time  he  was  nominated  as  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency  in  1800,  that  Jim  was  most  busy.  He  says, 
"  I'd  ride  night  and  day  and  all  over  the  country 
east  and  west.  I've  been  out  carrying  papers  in  a 


PROF.    JIM.  11 

storm  from  midnight  until  one  o'clock  the  next  day, 
to  Westchester  and  White  Plains,  and  then  with 
change  of  horses  to  Croton.  I  remember  coming 
one  day  from  Sing  Sing  at  midnight,  and  being  sent 
off  again  to  the  city,  and  I'd  as  lief  go  anywhere 
else  as  there,  for  the  Commons  was  where  the  great 
Park  is  now,  and  about  five  miles  out  of  town  there 
were  plenty  of  robbers  and  wild  cattle."  He  re 
members  the  rejoicings  and  celebrations  of  this  year 
at  the  time  of  Jefferson's  election,  and  declares  that 
such  a  "barbecue"  was  never  seen  before  at  Yon- 
kers  as  took  place  then,  when  an  ox  weighing  four 
teen  hundred  pounds  was  roasted  whole.  The  snow 
was  very  deep,  extraordinarily  so  for  the  season  of 
the  year,  and  the  thousands  of  people  assembled 
there  were  obliged  to  wade  and  stumble  about  in 
drifts  waist  high,  and  altogether  there  were  so  many 
things  connected  with  this  celebration  that  were 
strange  and  out  of  the  way,  that  Professor  Jim 
thinks  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  one  having 
seen  it  to  forget  it. 

In  the  boyish  days  of  our  hero,  the  mischief  which 
even  now  occasionally  manifests  itself,  had,  we  may 
be  sure,  full  sway,  and  he  relates  several  incidents 
in  which  he  was  a  moving  spirit,  with. so  much  relish 
and  so  many  hearty  laughs,  that  one  cannot  resist 
joining  him  in  his  merriment. 

He  declares  that  his  suspicions  were  often  aroused 
at  the  sight  of  a  big  black  bottle  which  stood  in  the 


12  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

closet  of  his  missus'  room,  and  says,  "  I  made  up 
my  mind  I'se  goin'  to  see  what  was  in  that  ar.  Ole 
missus  was  asleep,  and  I  was  smellin'  of  the  bottle 
and  found  -it  was  gin,  and  so  'gan  to  want  a  taste, 
and  had  no  sooner  got  the  bottle  to  my  mouf  and 
smack-smack, when, '  Boy, what  are  you  doin'  there  ? ' 
and  she  jes'  took  me  out  to  the  kitchen,  and  my 
mother  gave  me  worse  than  three  or  four  drinks  of 
gin.  Oh  !  I  tell  you  that  thar  was  music — that  thar 
was  music." 

His  mother  obtained  her  freedom  somewhat  in 
this  way ;  if  Jim's  statement  is  true,  the  relations 
of  master  and  slave,  to  say  the  least,  were  very 
peculiar. 

Col.  Robert  in  a  moment  of  anger  struck  one  of 
the  slave  children,  and  Jim's  mother  immediately 
rebelled  and  flew  to  its  protection  ;  the  master's  son 
upheld  the  mother,  and  the  master  himself  at  length 
yielded  ;  but  the  mother  was  not  satisfied,  and  at 
length  begged  Col.  Robert  to  send  her  away  to  some 
other  slaveholder,  and  finally  obtained  the  requisite 
pass,  as  she  supposed  it  was,  to  leave  her  old  home 
to  go  to  some  neighboring  land-holder ;  but  she  dis 
covered  to  her  astonishment  that  the  paper  in  ques 
tion  gave  her  her  freedom. 

Prof.  Jim  says  that  he  himself  was  always  a  fa 
vorite,  and  to  his  recollection  he  was  never  whipped 
by  his  master  but  once,  and  then  "  after  two  licks 


PROF.    JIM.  13 

with   a   dry  alder,  the  stick  broke,  and   that  was 
enough." 

"  But  did  your  mother  never  whip  you  ?"  "  Oh, 
jolly  !  if  my  mother  once  got  hold  of  me,  then  I  tell 
you  I  saw  stars." 

Aaron  Burr  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Col.  Robert's 
house,  and  a  room  was  always  ready  for  him,  as  lie 
might  stop  at  any  time  on  his  way  from  Albany  to 
New  York,  or  back  again.  The  establishment  of 
Burr  seems  to  have  made  a  strong  impression  on 
Prof.  Jim's  mind,  and  he  describes  with' admiring 
tones  the  enormous  carriage  drawn  by  six  horses, 
and  the  retinue  of  outriders  and  footmen  which  al 
ways  accompanied  him.  Burr  himself,  Jim  describes 
as  a  short,  rough,  and  ugly  man,  who  swore  and 
cursed  constantly,  but  who  in  ladies'  society  was 
very  polite  and  exquisite. 

(By  the  way  of  parenthesis  we  would  like  to  add 
that  a  prominent  gentleman  in  New  York  sees  fit  to 
deny  Jim's  assertion  respecting  the  profanity  of 
Aaron  Burr.  He  says  that  after  a  long  personal  ac 
quaintance  with  Burr,  he  was  led  to  suspect  nothing 
of  the  kind,  and  in  his  opinion  this  story  should  be 
taken  cum  grano  salis. 

In  reply,  we  would  say,  we  do  not  like  to  contra 
dict  Professor  Jim's  statement,  when  we  find  such 
authorities  as  Parton  and  Davis  declaring  plainly 
that  the  reason  for  the  break  between  Washington 
and  Burr,  and  the  loss  to  Burr  of  his  position  in  the 


14  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

army,  was  simply  owing  to  bis  inordinate  use  of 
foul  and  profane  language.) 

At  the  time  of  the  duel  between  Burr  and  Hamil 
ton,  Jim  was  at  work  in  the  fields  at  mail  time,  and 
bis  mother  was  sent  on  horse-back  for  the  batch  of 
papers  which  was  due.  She  gave  the  letters,  on  her 
return,  to  her  master,  and  he  had  scarcely  read  the 
first  one  he  had  opened,  when,  all  hurry  and  excite 
ment,  he  shouted,/' Get  a  room  ready  quick,  for 
that  little  devil  is  coming.-"  When  afterwards  he 
learned  that  Hamilton  had  been  killed  in  the  duely 
the  excitement  increased. 

A  moment's  digression  here  to  the  statements  of 
history  will  be  serviceable  in  ascertaining  how  far 
Prof.  Jim  remembers  this  event.  None  of  the  sev 
eral  historians  whose  works  were  at  our  disposal, 
mention  Burr's  whereabouts  immediately  after  the 
duel.  All  agree  that  he  stayed  somewhere  near  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  it  is  conjectured  that  he  re 
mained  at  his  family  residence,  Richmond  Hill. 
"  On  Wednesday  morning,  the  llth  of  July,  1804, 
Burr  and  Hamilton  met  on  the  heights  of  Weehaw- 
ken,  and  the  duel  was  fought.  On  Thursday,  the 
12th,  General  Hamilton  died,  and  on  Saturday,  the 
14th,  he  was  interred  with  military  honors." 

Burr  writes  to  Joseph  Allston,  Esq.,  from  New 
York,  July  18th :  "  Gen.  Hamilton  died  yesterday. 
I  propose  leaving  town  for  a  few  days,  and  meditate 
also  a  journey  for  some  weeks,  but  whither  is  not 


PROF.    JIM.  15 

resolved.  Perhaps  to  Slatesburgh.  You  will  hear 
from  me  in  about  eight  days." 

The  next  letter  with  any  date  is  from  Philadelphia, 
July  29th. 

Parton,  in  his  life  of  Aaron  Burr,  says  that  imme 
diately  after  the  duel,  Burr  went  to  his  home  in  New 
York  (Richmond  Hill),  and  for  eleven  days  stayed 
at  or  near  this  place,  writing, .under  cover  of  friends 
in  Philadelphia,  to  his  daughter  and  to  his  son-in- 
law.  Jim's  statement,  as  will  be  seen,  becomes  an 
important  one  in  the  history  of  Burr's  life,  inas 
much  as  the  missing  link  in  the  broken  chain  of 
circumstances  connected  with  his  history  from  just 
before  the  duel  till  some  weeks  after,  is  here  sup 
plied.  The  interest  attached  to  the  account  of  the 
events  in  the  life  of  our  aged  janitor  increases,  when 
we  find  ourselves  able  to  verify  his  statements  by 
means  of  the  accepted  statements  of  historians. 
We  find  as  we  proceed  in  this  biography,  that  more 
than  once  we  are  able  to  refer  to  standard  works  for 
a  verification  of  statements  which,  taken  by  them 
selves,  might  seem  to  the  incredulous  creations  of 
Prof.  Jim's  fancy. 

Now  Jim  says,  "  Burr  went  first  to  his  own  house 
in  New  York,  Burr's  Woods  they  called  the  place, 
near  the  old  State's  prison  on  West  Broadway.  The 
next  day,  between  three  and  four  in  the  afternoon, 
as  we  were  putting  up  a  new  yard  fence,  there  ap 
peared  a  great  cloud  of  dust  away  down  the  road ; 


16  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

some  one  said  that  it  was  somebody  riding,  for  the 
day  was  so  quiet  it  could  not  be  the  wind.  By-and- 
by  a  man  came  up  and  gave  a  note  to  master ;  that 
said  he  was  coming.  Pretty  soon  he  came  up  him 
self  in  his  four-horse  coach,  and  drove  into  the  yard 
and  came  out  of  the  coach.  His  head  was  bowed 
down,  and  he  didn't  say  a  word  ;  but  then  his  head 
was  always  bowed  down.  He  caught  right  hold  of 
my  master's  hand,  and  they  went  into  the  house, 
and  we  didn't  see  him  again  till  the  next  evening. 
The  day  that  Hamilton  was  buried  was  a  bad  day 
for  him,  and  he  didn't  eat  any  dinner,  nor  go  out  for 
his  walk  along  the  river,  but  he  walked  to  and  fro 
along  the  corridor  up  stairs,  with  his  hands  behind 
him.  We  could  hear  the  funeral  guns  sounding  up 
from  New  York. 

"  Burr  kept  his  servant  in  the  room  with  him  night 
and  day,  and  he  had  a  case  of  pistols  and  a  sword 
in  his  room  with  him.  He  stayed  with  my  master 
some  time,  and  practised  a  good  deal  at  target  shoot 
ing  down  by  the  river  bank,  and  I  myself  have  seen 
a  white  birch  tree  where  there  were  twelve  balls  in 
a  space  as  large  as  my  hand.  He  left  Yonkers  for 
New  York  in  a  row-boat  piloted  by  an  Indian. 

"  I  saw  him  several  times  after  this  in  the  city, 
when  I  went  there  to  live,  and  he  would  often  recog 
nize  me." 

It  seems  that  one  time  while  Burr  was  at  Yonkers 
he  narrowly  escaped  being  seized,  for  he  was  with 


PROF.    JIM.  17 

Col.  Robert  on  one  side  of  a  garden  hedge  while 
two  horsemen  stopped  on  the  other  side  in  the  main 
road,  and  remarked  that  "  Burr  was  in  Albany,  and 
they  were  after  him,"  and  but  for  the  expostulations 
of  Robert,  Burr  would  have  shot  at  these  men,  and 
thus  have  declared  his  hiding  place. 

This  is  Jim's  story  of  his  connection  with  Burr, 
and  throws  aside  entirely  the  number  of  little  ro 
mances  that  students  have  delighted  in ;  but  as  we 
have  Jim's  own  word  for  the  statement  as  given,  we 
are  per  force  obliged  to  give  up  the  "  carriage  story  " 
and  that  of  his  own  presence  on  the  field  at  the 
meeting  of  the  duellists. 


II. 


The   sundry  contemplation  of  my  travels.' 

—AS  YOU  LIKE  IT. 


Soon  after  the  duel  between  Burr  and  Hamilton, 
Col.  Robert  died,  and  about  a  year  afterwards,  with 
the  settlement  of  the  estate,  Jim  went  to  live  with  a 
daughter  of  the  Colonel,  to  whom  he  had  been  given 
by  will.  She  lived  in  New  York  city,  at  No.  10  Dey 
street.  His  sister  was  a  maid  and  he  a  servant  for 
several  years  in  the  family  of  Miss  Robert.  They 
did  not  remain  in  the  city  the  entire  year,  but  during 
the  summer  months  the  family  was  broken  up,  part 
of  them  going  to  the  "  Springs"  in  a  sort  of  cara 
van,  for  it  was  unsafe  in  those  days  to  travel  except 
in  large  companies,  and  stage  coaches  and  private 
"  establishments "  were  the  only  means  of  getting 
about  the  country,  and  the  remainder  spending  the 
season  in  Yonkers. 

The  first  summer,  while  the  family  were  at  the 
Springs,  Jim  was  put  out  to  work  on  a  farm,  and  on 
the  return  of  the  family  in  the  fall  he  went  back 
again  to  his  place  as  servant  at  Miss  Robert's  house. 
The  various  stories  he  heard  from  his  sister,  who  of 
course  traveled  with  her  mistress,  and  the  accounts 
he  often  received  from  a  sister  of  his  late  master,  of 
the  beauties  of  the  places  which  they  had  visited 


22  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

during  their  summer  trip,  incited  Jim  very  much  to 
go  off  by  himself  and  prove  the  reality  of  these 
wonderful  stories. 

The  thought  worked  upon  his  mind  so  much  that 
before  the  next  summer  had  arrived  he  was  fully 
decided  to  see  the  world.  When  the  family  had  de 
termined  to  leave  the  city  they  placed  Jim  in  the 
wholesale  grocery  store  of  Robert  B.  Lloyd,  Esq., 
on  Broadway ;  but  Jim  had  his  mind  prepared  for 
travel,  and  he  seized  the  first  opportunity,  and  with 
his  bundle  under  his  arm,  ran  away,  managing  to 
possess  himself  of  sufficient  money  to  pay  his  steam 
boat  passage  to  New  London,  Conn.  He  says  this 
steamboat  was  the  Fulton. 

He  managed  to  get  employment  as  hostler,  for  he 
had  had  some  experience  with  horses  while  he  lived 
in  New  York ;  but  he  was  not  satisfied,  this  wasn't 
the  part  of  the  world  he  was  very  much  interested 
in,  or  at  least  he  hadn't  a  realizing  sense  of  its  beau 
ties,  and  the  first  instant  he  could  get  away,  he 
shipped  on  board  a  West  India  trader,  with  a  Capt. 
Fox. 

On  his  return  from  this  voyage  he  landed  in  New 
York,  and  went  immediately  on  board  an  American 
ship,  the  Eliza  G-racie,  bound  for  Liverpool.  From 
this  voyage  dates  the  adventurous  part  of  Jim's  life. 
On  the  day  that  they  were  about  to  land,  having 
crossed  the  ocean,  a  rough,  suspicious-looking 
schooner  came  along  side  the  Gracie,  and  with 


PROF.    JIM.  23 

scarcely  any  warning,  boarded  her  with  half  a  dozen 
men,  armed  with  broadswords.  They  seized  Jim, 
with  three  other  men,  and  pressed  them  into  service, 
carrying  them  off  to  the  British  sloop'  of  war,  the 
Shepherdess,  which  lay  at  anchor  in  the  channel. 
"  For  over  three  years,"  says  Jim,  "  I  didn't  put  my 
foot  ashore ;  I  always  had  a  hard  time,  and  once  I 
hit  an  officer." 

The  Shepherdess  cruised  about  the  American 
coast,  generally  in  the  Southern  waters,  and  then 
again  re-crossed  the  ocean  and  cruised  about  the 
shores  of  Africa  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  again  in 
the  South  Atlantic.  At  one  time  they  sailed  for  six 
days  up  the  Congo  river,  and  the  weather  was  so 
extremely  hot  that  the  crew  suffered  intensely.  It 
became  necessary  to  soak  their  shirts  in  oil  several 
times  a  day,  and  even  to  rub  their  bodies  with  oil, 
to  keep  their  flesh  from  burning. 

The  Captain  of  the  Shepherdess  had  undertaken 
this  voyage  up  the  Congo  from  mere  curiosity,  and 
he  almost  lost  his  vessel  by  the  rapidly  running 
tides,  which,  in  one  instance,  nearly  carried  them 
over  the  falls,  where  it  would  have  been  certain  de 
struction.  While  at  anchor  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo  river,  Jim  went  on  shore,  wearing  over  his 
shirt  a  navy  coat  ornamented  with  large  brass  but 
tons.  The  naked  inhabitants  of  that  region  no 
doubt  thought  the  blue-coated  sailor  was  some  sort 
of  strange  animal,  akin  to  their  own  species,  yet  al- 


24  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

together  too  highly  ornamented  to  please  their  cul 
tivated  tastes,  and  before  he  was  well  aware  of  his 
situation,  Jim  found  himself  surrounded  with  danc 
ing  savages,  howling  what  might  have  been  his  death 
knell  for  all  he  knew.  He  ascertained  very  shortly, 
however,  that  it  was  not  so  much  his  valuable  person 
that  they  coveted,  but  only  the  bright  buttons  on  his 
coat,  and  he  readily  sacrificed  the  article  and  escaped 
with  his  life,  thankful  for  small  favors. 

What  they  ever  did  with  those  brass  buttons  is 
beyond  Jim's  conjecture. 

While  in  the  Mediterranean,  they  once  landed  on 
the  shores  of  Turkey,  and  at  another  time  witnessed 
a  battle,  which  Jim  insists  was  between  a  party  of 
Greeks  and  some  of  their  enemies.  Jim  asserts 
that  the  Captain  would  not  allow  much  flogging,  and 
in  his  case  punishments  of  this  sort  came  very  sel 
dom,  for,  says  the  Captain,  "  Let  him  alone,  he  is 
one  of  the  Yankee  cow-boys."  During  the  war  of 
1812,  the  /Shepherdess  came  back  to  the  United 
States,  and  made  a  trip  up  the  St.  Lawrence  river  to 
Quebec,  then  back  along  the  coast  to  New  York. 

At  the  time  of  the  fight  between  the  Chesapeake 
and  the  Macedonian  and  Gruerriere,  the  vessel  on 
which  Jim  sailed  was  off  New  York,  and  they  met 
a  brig  carrying  English  prisoners  to  Halifax  to  ex 
change,  and  received  the  news  from  them  ;  a  day  or 
two  after,  they  saw  the  prize  towed  into  New  York 
harbor.  "  And,"  says  Jim,  "  you  could  run  a  barrow 


PROP.    JIM.  25 

through  the  sides  any  where."  "  Soon  after,  we 
met  a  vessel  with  the  news  that  Gen.  Brock  was 
killed,  and  I  tossed  up  my  hat,  and  yelled,  '  Hurrah 
for  the  Yankee  cow-boys  ! ' ' 

Preparations  were  made  on  board  the  Shepherd 
ess  to  make  battle  at  any  time,  but  the  mutinous 
spirit  which  for  some  time  had  been  secretly  moving 
some  of  the  crew,  incited  Jim  to  make  any  efforts 
he  could,  to  injure  the  British  cause ;  and  he  states 
with  a  great  deal  of  fun  and  mischief  sparkling 
from  his  black  eyes,  which  even  now  have  vim 
enough  to  do  a  good  turn  to  a  younger  body,  how 
he  collected  rat-tail  files,  fully  intending  to  spike  the 
English  guns  if  the  time  ever  came  when  he  should 
be  compelled  to  fight  his  own  countrymen.  His 
patriotism  was  intense,  and  although  he  had  been 
impressed  into  British  service,  still  he  was  staunch 
and  true  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  vessel  made  for  New  York,  and  anchored  just 
off  the  Highlands,  at  the  entrance  to  New  York 
harbor.  The  sight  of  his  own  country  so  excited 
Jim  that  he,  in  desperation,  endeavored  to  sink  the 
vessel,  and  for  the  purpose  procured  an  auger,  and 
having  found  a  secure  place,  set  to  work  to  bore  a 
hole  in  the  bottom,  bound  to  sink  the  entire  crew 
rather  than  sail  any  longer  in  the  hated  concern. 
Fortunately,  perhaps,  for  him,  his  efforts  were  dis 
covered  in  time  to  prevent  the  wholesale  destruction 
of  the  ship's  men,  and  but  for  the  intense  excite- 
3 


26  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

merit  of  the  times,  and  the  immediate  necessity  for 
the  English  vessel  to  make  sail,  no  doubt  Jim  would 
have  received  such  punishment  as  would  have  at 
least  prevented  the  publication  of  this  biography. 

With  fair  winds,  they  reached  the  rocks  of  Scilly, 
off  the  south-west  coast  of  England,  in  thirty  days ; 
the  Captain  of  the  vessel  seeing  fit  to  punish  Jim 
for  his  murderous  intentions  with  but  slight  repri 
mand.  Here,  at  Scilly,  they  found  it  necessary  to 
procure  a  supply  of  provisions,  and  on  making  port, 
eight  men,  one  of  whom  was  Jim,  were  sent  on 
shore,  with  a  young  boy  to  mind  the  boat,  to  pro 
cure  what  they  needed.  But  we  will  let  Prof.  Jim 
tell  his  own  story.  He  says  : 

"  I  pulled  after-oar  in  the  boat,  for  I  was  always 
the  best  oarsman  there.  It  was  about  dark  when 
we  were  ordered  ashore,  and  I  asked  the  coxswain 
(the  boy  mentioned  before)  if  we  might  get  some 
beer ;  having  permission,  we  went  up  to  a  corner 
tavern  and  went  in  through  the  open  door,  and  got 
our  beer.  We  were  all  very  lame  and  stiff,  for  we 
were  not  used  to  walking,  but,  thinks  I  to  myself, 
now's  the  time ;  so  I  gave  the  wink  to  the  fellows, 
and  we  just  went  for  it,  and  hobbled  out  of  the  back 
door  as  "fast  as  ever  we  could.  At  the  end  of  half 
an  hour,  we  heard  a  drum  beat ;  then  said  I  to  the 
fellows,  4  Look  out  for  yourselves,'  and  we  all  drop 
ped  into  a  ditch,  and  just  in  time,  too,  for  we  were 
hardly  still,  before  a  party  of  men  rode  by  on  horse- 


PROF.    JIM.  27 

back,  and  so  close  were  they  to  us  that  the  dust  from 
the  horses'  hoofs  was  scattered  over  us. 

"  When  the  coast  was  clear,  and  no  one  seemed 
to  be  stirring,  we  started  on,  lame  and  tired,  and 
moved  forward  till  late  in  the  night,  till  we  found  a 
bright  light  ahead  of  us,  and  we  walked  towards  it. 
We  found  it  came  from  a  great  stone  house,  which 
was  surrounded  by  a  high  stone-wall,  and  the  only 
entrance  was  through  an  arched  gate-way  shut  up 
by  a  high  iron  gate.  I  called  and  shouted  at  the  top 
of  my  voice,  but  only  managed  to  stir  up  a  lot  of 
dogs,  who  yelped,  and  howled,  and  barked,  with  noise 
enough  to  waken  the  neighborhood. 

"  A  woman  appeared  and  called  the  dogs  away,  and 
asked  us  what  we  wanted. 

"'Who  are  you?'  said  she. 

"  '  Yankee  deserters,'  said  I. 

"  And  so  she  let  us  in,  and  stowed  us  up  in  the 
garret,  and  there  we  stayed  for  three  days.  On  the 
third  day,  from  the  garret  window  we  saw  the  Shep 
herdess  sail  away,  and  then  we  came  down.  I  had 
on  a  long  blue  coat  and  a  pair  of  English  breeches, 
and  the  rest  of  the  men  were  in  their  sailor  dress. 

"  We  went  down  to  the  wharf,  and  there  was  a 
ship  with  good  luck  for  us,  for  the  lash-whip  was 
flying  for  hands,  and  we  all  went  aboard  and  asked 
if  they  wanted  any  help  ;  they  were  bound  for  New 
York. 

"  4  You  are  Yankees,'  said  the  Captain. 


28  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

"  *  Yes,'  said  the  men. 

" '  You  are  those  deserters  from  the  Shepherdess,' 
said  the  Captain  again. 

"  '  Yes,'  replied  the  men. 

"  '  All  right,  then,  go  below  and  keep  out  of  sight.' ': 

But  Jim  stayed  on  deck,  for  he  was  an  American, 
and  could  only  be  taken  by  force,  while  the  other 
men  were  Irish,  and  called  themselves  Yankees  be 
cause  they  rather  favored  the  cause  of  the  Ameri 
cans  in  the  war  which  was  just  breaking  out. 

"  Well,"  continues  Jim,  "  when  we  had  got  out 
to  sea,  about  evening  I  saw  a  sail,  and  said  I  to  the 
Captain,  <  That's  the  Shepherdess:  <  Then  hide,  all 
of  you,'  said  he.  The  men  were  below,  but  I  got 
into  a  locker.  By-and-by  the  Shepherdess  came 
along  side,  and  our  Captain  received  the  officers  on 
board.  The  British  Lieutenant  sat  down  on  the  top 
of  the  very  locker  in  which  I  was  hid,  but  he  didn't 
know  it,  and  I  was  all  safe,  and  after  a  time  they 
went  away,  and  I  never  saw  them  again." 

The  danger  of  the  men  who  had  escaped  with  Jim, 
and  of  even  Jim  himself,  was  very  great  until  he  had 
safely  landed  in  New  York.  American  seamen  were 
impressed  wherever  they  could  be  taken  on  the  high 
seas,  and  Hildreth,  in  his  History  of  the  United 
States,  says  that  twenty-five  hundred  of  these  same 
impressed  sailors,  still  claiming  to  be  American  citi 
zens,  and  refusing  to  fight  against  their  country, 
were  committed  to  close  imprisonment.  In  case  of 


PROF.    JIM.  29 

capture,  then,  Jim  and  his  followers  would  have  had 
but  a  sorry  chance ;  and  he  thinks  himself  that  he 
had  a  very  narrow  escape,  for  British  imprisonment 
was  so  severe  that  its  mere  suggestion  might  frighten 
even  sailors  on  board  a  vessel  of  war. 

The  vessel  Jim  was  now  in  was  the  Caroline,  and 
she  sailed  directly  for  New  York,  where  Jim  left  her, 
and  was  shipped  as  powder-monkey  on  board  the 
sloop  of  war  Hornet.  Fighting  had  actually  begun 
to  be  a  very  earnest  thing  in  the  United  States,  and 
Cooper,  in  his  Naval  History,  gives  a  list  of  the  war 
vessels  which  were  equipped  and  sent  out  from  Bos 
ton  and  New  York  at  this  time,  and  mentions  the 
Hornet  as  one  of  the  fleet. 

In  writing  the  history  of  Prof.  Jim's  connection 
with  the  Hornet,  we  find  ourselves  all  at  once  thrown 
into  contact  with  statements  which  eminent  histor 
ians  have  pictured  in  thrilling  detail.  Wherever 
the  war  of  1812  is  spoken  of,  we  invariably  find 
that  among  naval  battles  of  great  interest  mentioned, 
the  Hornet  is  made  noteworthy.  These  accounts 
are  taken  mainly  from  official  reports  of  the  day, 
presented  to  the  authorities  of  government  by  the 
commanders  of  the  respective  vessels  engaged,  and 
as  the  statements  are  made  by  responsible  persons, 
we  are  inclined  to  accept  them  without  further  in 
quiry. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  present  writer  finds  an  old 
man,  wholly  unlettered,  and  with  the  propensity  of 


30  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

his  race  to  magnify  and  enlarge  upon  any  topic  with 
which  they  may  imagine  themselves  familiar,  utter 
ing  statements  which  we  are  obliged  to  authenticate 
by  credible  history  to  assure  ourselves  that  they  are 
true.  It  is  a  point  of  great  interest  and  satisfaction 
to  find  his  story  verified ;  we  tell  it  as  we  glean  it 
piecemeal  from  him,  and  add  the  same  history 
as  it  is  given  by  standard  writers  like  Cooper  and 
Hildreth. 

As  stated  before,  Jim  was  shipped  as  powder- 
monkey  on  board  the  Hornet,  but  the  Captain  (Law 
rence)  soon  found  out  the  qualities  of  his  new  hand, 
and  that  timidity  was  not  his  failing,  and  he  soon 
promoted  Jim  to  a  gun  on  the  larboard  quarter, 
where  he  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  hearing 
what  he  would  otherwise  have  missed.  He  says : 
"  We  sailed  to  the  West  Indies,  and  off  South  Amer 
ica  we  had  an  engagement  with  the  Peacock,  a  Brit 
ish  vessel  of  war.  We  sunk  her  in  twenty-five 
minutes. 

"  When  the  Peacock  was  discovered,  another  fel 
low  and  I  were  boxing  up  in  the  shrouds,  and  he 
called  out  that  there  was  a  ship  coming  along ;  and 
there  she  was,  sure  enough,  and  a  noble  looking 
thing  she  was,  sir. 

"Well,  pretty  soon  the  balls  began  to,  fly,  and  I 
tell  you  it  was  hot  work;  talk  about  your  playing 
ball,  them  were  the  balls  as  you  couldn't  put  out 
your  hand  to  catch. 


PROF.    JIM.  31 

"  Well,  we  sunk  her,  and  lost  five  of  our  men  in 
side  her,  whom  the  Captain  had  sent  on  board  to  save 
some  of  the  wounded  ;  but  rum  and  tobacco  got  the 
best  of  them,  and  as  she  went  down  all  of  a  sudden, 
that  was  the  last  of  them. 

"  She  came  right  off  us  so,"  says  old  Jim,  holding 
his  hands  parallel,  but  the  right,  representing  the 
Peacock,  about  a  foot  in  the  rear  of  his  left  hand, 
"  and  we  came  so  near  together  that  for  a  minute 
the  yards  locked,  and  there  was  an  awful  crash,  and 
the  waves  were  running  high.  I  stood  on  the  lar 
board  side,  with  what  they  called  a  *  tub '  of  pistols 
and  hand  spikes,  and  at  the  first  crash  a  hand  spike 
caught  in  my  wrist,  and  that  is  the  scar,  sir,"  show 
ing  a  veritable  scar  upon  his  hand.  "  As  the  Pea 
cock  passed,  some  man  in  our  shrouds  up  aloft  shot 
her  Captain,  and  he  fell  on  the  deck. 

"  The  sterns  of  the  two  vessels  were  near  together, 
and  the  balls  flew  like  hail,  and  I  got  struck  by  a 
splinter  on  the  knee,  and  was  sent  below,  for  the 
blood  was  streaming  down  over  my  foot ;  but  1 
crawled  back  on  deck  again.  Our  wounded  were 
very  few,  but  a  gun  'busted'  and  killed  some,  and 
some  were  drowned  in  the  Peacock.  I  remember 
seeing  some  men  up  aloft  when  she  sunk,  and  they 
were  taken  aboard  from  there." 

Cooper's  report  of  this  action  will  throw  a  lit 
tle  interesting  light  on  Jim's  statement.  He  says : 
"  The  Hornet  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  26th  of  Oc- 


32  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

tober,  1812,  touching  at  the  different  rendezvous 
(so  without  doubt  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  where 
Jim  went  on  board)  with  letters,  according  to  ar 
rangement,  arriving  off  St.  Salvador  on  the  13th  of 
December,  and  the  Hornet  was  sent  in  to  commu 
nicate  with  the  consul.  She  remained  off  St.  Sal 
vador  alone  for  eighteen  days,  when  she  was  chased 
into  the  harbor  by  the  Montague.  It  was  late  in  the 
evening  when  the  Montague  approached,  and  the 
Hornet  availed  herself  of  the  darkness  to  wear,  and 
stand  out  again,  passing  into  the  offing  without  fur 
ther  molestation.  Captain  Lawrence  now  hauled 
by  the  wind  with  the  intention  of  going  off  Per- 
nambuco. 

"  While  the  Hornet  was  beating  round  the  Caro- 
bana  bank,  a  sail  was  made  on  her  weather  quarter 
edging  down  towards  her.  It  was  now  half-past  three 
P.  M.,  and  the  Hornet  continuing  to  turn  to  wind 
ward  with  her  original  intention,  by  twenty  minutes 
past  four  the  second  stranger  was  made  out  to  be  a 
large  man-of-war  brig,  and  soon  after  she  showed 
English  colors. 

"  As  soon  as  her  captain  was  satisfied  that  the  ves 
sel  approaching  was  an  enemy,  the  Hornet  was 
cleared  for  action,  and  her  people  went  to  quarters. 
The  ship  was  kept  close  by  the  wind,  in  order  to 
gain  the  weather  gage,  the  enemy  still  running  free. 
At  5.10,  feeling  that  he  could  weather  the  English 
man,  Captain  Lawrence  showed  his  colors,  and 


PROF.    JIM. 


33 


tacked.  The  two  vessels  were  now  standing  towards 
each  other,  with  their  heads  different  ways,  both 
close  by  the  wind.  They  passed  within  half  pistol- 
shot  at  5.25,  delivering  their  broadsides  as  the  guns 
bore,  each  vessel  using  the  larboard  battery. 

"  As  soon  as  they  were  clear,  the  Englishman  put 
his  helm  hard  up,  with  the  intention  to  wear  short 
round  and  get  a  raking  fire  at  the  Hornet ;  but  the 
manoeuvre  was  closely  watched,  and  promptly  imi 
tated,  and  firing  his  starboard  guns,  he  was  obliged 
to  right  his  helm  as  the  Hornet  was  coming  down 
on  his  quarter  in  a  perfect  blaze  of  fire. 

"  The  latter  closed,  and  maintaining  the  admir 
able  position  she  had  got,  poured  in  her  shot  with 
such  vigor,  that  a  little  before  5.40  the  enemy  not 
only  lowered  his  ensign,  but  he  hoisted  it  union 
down,  in  the  fore-rigging,  as  a  signal  of  distress. 
His  main-mast  soon  after  fell. 

"  Mr.  Shubrick  was  sent  on  board  to  take  posses 
sion.  This  officer  soon  returned  with  the  informa 
tion  that  the  prize  was  the  enemy's  sloop-of-war 
Peacock,  Captain  Peake,  and  that  she  was  fast  sink 
ing,  having  already  six  feet  of  water  in  her  hold. 
Mr.  Cormer  and  Mr.  Cooper  were  immediately  de 
spatched  with  boats  to  get  out  the  wounded,  and  to 
endeavor  to  save  the  vessel.  It  was  too  late  for  the 
latter,  though  every  exertion  was  made. 

"  Both  vessels  were  immediately  anchored,  guns 
were  thrown  overboard,  shot-holes  plugged,  and  re- 


34  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

course  was  had  to  the  pumps,  and  even  to  bailing, 
but  the  short  twilight  of  that  low  latitude  soon  left 
the  prize-crew,  before  the  prisoners  could  be  re 
moved.  In  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  such  a  scene, 
and  while  the  boats  of  the  Hornet  were  absent,  four 
of  the  Englishmen  lowered  the  stern  boat  of  the 
Peacock,  which  had  been  thought  too  much  injured 
to  be  used,  jumped  into  it  and  pulled  for  land  at  the 
imminent  risk  of  their  lives. 

"Mr.  Conner  became  sensible  that  the  brig  was 
in  momentary  danger  of  sinking,  and  he  endeavored 
to  muster  the  people  remaining  on  board  in  the  Pea- 
cock's  launch,  which  still  stood  on  deck,  the  fall  of 
the  main-mast  and  the  want  of  time  having  pre 
vented  an  attempt  to  get  it  into  the  water.  Unfor 
tunately,  a  good  many  of  the  Peacock's  people  were 
below,  rummaging  the  vessel,  and  when  the  brig 
gave  her  last  wallow  it  was  too  late  to  save  them. 

"  The  Peacock  settled  very  easily  but  suddenly  in 
five  and  a  half  fathoms  water,  and  the  two  Ameri 
can  officers,  with  most  of  the  men  and  several  pris 
oners,  saved  themselves  in  the  launch,  though  not 
without  great  exertions.  Three  of  the  Hornet's 
people  (Jim  says  five)  went  down  in  the  brig,  and 
nine  of  the  Peacock's  were  also  drowned.  Four 
more  of  the  latter  saved  themselves  by  running  up  the 
rigging  into  the  foretop,  which  remained  out  of  the 
water  after  theshull  had  got  to  the  bottom. 

"  In  this  short  encounter,  the  Peacock  had  her 


PROF.    JIM.  35 

captain  and  four  men  killed,  and  thirty-three 
wounded.  The  Hornet  had  one  man  killed,  and  two 
wounded,  in  addition  to  two  men  badly  burned  by  the 
explosion  of  the  cartridge. 

"  The  Hornet  in  the  action  mustered  135  men  fit 
for  duty,  the  Peacock  130." 

We  quote  thus  at  length,  for  as  the  whole  battle 
must  have  been  witnessed  by  Prof.  Jim,  he  himself 
indeed,  taking  an  active  part  in  it,  every  item  is  of 
interest 'to  any  one  who  is  interested  in  the  life  of 
the  venerable  janitor. 

Cooper  further  adds,  that  Captain  Lawrence,  being 
overburdened  with  prisoners  and  being  short  of  sup 
plies,  sailed  for  New  York,  and  this  accords  with 
Jim's  statement,  that  he  went  directly  to  New  York, 
where  he  left  the  Hornet  and  went  on  board  another 
vessel, 

After  leaving  the  Hornet  at  New  York,  Jim,  not 
yet  wearied  with  sailor's  life  and  hardships,  went  on 
board  the  first  vessel  which  offered  itself.  This 
proved  to  be  a  pirate,  although  Jim  asserts  that  he 
had  no  suspicions  of  its  true  character  till  they  were 
fairly  out  at  sea.  She  was  called  the  "  True  blooded 
Yankee"  and  she  sailed  directly  for  St.  Salvador, 
Brazil,  and  Buenos  Ayres,  where  she  began  a  series 
of  robberies  on  any  craft  which  chanced  to  fall  in 
her  way ;  but  no  murders  were  committed,  as  the 
captain  only  professed  to  rob,  not  to  murder. 

Leaving  South  America,  they  went  over  to  the 


36  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

coast  of  Spain,  and  plundered  a  number  of  vessels, 
and  in  a  measure  felt  that  the  trip  had  been  very 
successful,  although  at  one  time  they  narrowly  es 
caped  being  run  down  by  a  Spanish  seventy-four, 
which  gave  them  chase  for  two  days  and  two  nights. 
They  returned  to  New  York,  and  having  rid  them 
selves  of  their  spoils,  sailed  again  for  the  South 
American  coast.  When  just  outside  Sandy  Hook,  a 
United  States  war  vessel  gave  them  chase,  and  pur 
sued  them  some  days,  but  did  not  overtake  them. 
The  captain  of  the  pirate  knew  the  pursuing  vessel 
as  the  Wasp,  one  of  the  fleet  which  was  fitted  out 
for  the  war  at  the  time  the  Hornet  was  sent  out  to 
the  Southern  coast. 

As  they  neared  the  West  Indies,  they  boarded  and 
plundered  a  ship  outward  bound  from  Havana,  and 
the  following  day  captured  two  more.  They  pursued 
a  third  when  near  St.  Salvador,  when  a  gun-ship 
gave  chase  and  drove  them  two  days  full  sail  out  to 
sea  again. 

Instead  of  returning  to  their  first  destined  port 
they  sailed  for  Buenos  Ayres,  and  had  a  narrow  es 
cape  from  a  ship  which  they  mistook  in  the  fog  and 
mist  for  a  trader,  but  which  they  suddenly  discovered 
to  be  a  large  man-of-war,  and  they  had  to  "  run  for 
it,"  in  sailor  language. 

Prof.  Jim  was  on  this  pirate  ship  for  seven  months, 
and  at  the  end  of  that  time  made  his  escape  at  St. 


PROF.    JIM.  37 

Salvador,  according  to  his  OAvn  statement,  somewhat 
in  this  manner. 

Tired  and  sick  of  continual  plunder,  and  wearied 
of  the  routine  of  privateer  service,  he  made  up  his 
mind,  by  this  time  somewhat  disciplined  by  experi 
ence,  that  he  would  escape  at  the  first  port  where  an 
opportunity  should  present  itself.  It  chanced  to  be 
at  St.  Salvador,  Brazil.  He  did  not  run  away  the 
first  time  he  was  sent  on  shore,  nor  the  second,  but 
when  his  movements  were  least  likely  to  be  suspected 
he  took  to  his  heels,  leaving  his  chest,  clothes,  money, 
and  all  that  was  due  to  him  from  his  captain  on 
board  the  vessel. 

He  found  at  last  that  he  could  make  nobody  un 
derstand  a  word  he  spoke,  and  he  began  to  be  fright 
ened  lest  he  should  find  that  he  had  chosen  the  wrong 
time  for  making  his  escape  from  the  privateer.  He 
walked  along  the  street,  gazing  into  store  windows 
or  booths  as  he  passed,  looking  for  some  face  that 
would  give  an  intelligent  smile  in  return,  and  would 
have  given  up  in  despair  and  have  considered  his 
case  as  hopeless,  had  he  not  at  a  fortunate  moment 
met  a  lady  who  eould  talk  English,  and  to  whom  he 
imparted  his  distress.  She  took  pity  on  him,  and 
having  provided  food  for  his  comfort,  gave  him  an 
old  suit  of  clothes,  put  him  on  a  poste  diligence, 
bound  along  the  coast  with  mail  lor  Buenos  Ayres. 

If  the  reader  will  trace  out  the  line  on  a  map  of 
Brazil  he  will  find,  as  we  did,  that  Jim's  statements 
4 


38  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

are  worthy  of  credence,  for  he  mentions  as  towns 
through  which  he  passed  on  this  long  and  tedious 
overland  journey,  Rio  Janeiro  and  Monte  Video. 
At  the  latter  place  he  says,  "  we  had  to  take  a  boat 
and  cross  some  sea,  or  river,  and  then  we  were  at 
Buenos  Ayres."  The  "  sea  or  river"  was  of  course 
the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  and  the  only  mail  line  that  we 
can  suppose  to  exist  between  St.  Salvador  and 
Buenos  Ayres  must  have  passed  through  the  large 
cities  mentioned  as  lying  on  his  route. 

From  Buenos  Ayres  he  shipped  in  an  American 
vessel  and  returned  again  to  New  York. 

Still  of  a  roving  disposition,  Jim  shipped  again, 
and  this  time  on  an  American  trader,  Captain  Lorie, 
bound  for  China. 

They  went  to  Havre  de  Grace,  and  sold  out  their 
cargo  for  the  purpose  of  having  ready  money  for 
trade  in  teas  and  silks,  but  strange  to  say  an  old 
acquaintance  of  Jim's  crosses  his  path,  when  his 
newly  adopted  vessel  had  hardly  made  way  for  its 
eastern  destination.  It  was  four  days  from  Havre, 
and  a  sail  made  its  appearance,  which  the  captain 
recognized  at  once,  and  that  it  boded  him  no  good ; 
and  it  seems  that  the  recognition  extended  to  the 
runaway  sailor  Jim,  for  it  was  the  same  pirate  craft 
from  which  he  had  escaped,  the  "  True  blooded  Yan 
kee."  However,  the  usually  successful  privateer 
this  time  missed  her  prey,  and  the  China  trip  was 
made  in  safety. 


PROF.    JIM.  39 

The  land  of  the  Mandarin  did  not  please  Jim,  and 
although  his  opportunities  for  observation  were 
small,  and  his  present  recollection  not  at  all  vivid, 
yet  he  states  very  clearly  what  he  remembers. 

He  says  they  made  port  at  Canton,  but  were  not 
allowed  to  enter  the  city  at  all,  but  all  trading  was 
done  outside  a  high  protecting  wall,  around  the  top 
of  which  odd  sort  of  vehicles  were  driving,  and 
odder  looking  people  walked.  The  sailors  used  to 
venture  as  far  as  they  dared  inside  the  gates,  but 
were  always  driven  back  with  great  hullaballoos  that 
would  have  terrified  any  one,  and  no  one  could  talk 
with  the  Chinamen,  for  they  didn't  understand  the 
sailors  nor  the  sailors  them. 

The  lading  was  tea  and  silk.  After  remaining  in 
that  port  for  a  month  or  more,  the  vessel  sailed  for 
New  York,  making  the  passage  in  somewhat  over 
130  days.  Storms  and  trouble  they  encountered 
without  end,  but  after  nearly  five  months  voyage  they 
landed  their  cargo  safely  in  New  York  city. 

After  returning  from  his  trip  to  the  East  Indies, 
Jim  shipped  on  board  the  Harrison,  bound  for  France. 
During  the  voyage  they  encountered  a  terrific  storm, 
which  swept  over  them  for  three  whole  days,  leaving 
the  decks  clear  and  the  vessel  scudding  under  bare 
poles.  Here  Jim  puts  in  a  little  anecdote,  which  he 
relates  with  infinite  gusto  as  illustrating  his  own  bold 
and  impudent  manner  when  in  great  danger  or  dis 
tress.  The  captain  had  given  up  the  vessel  as  lost, 


40  BIOGRAPHY    OF    FROP.    JIM. 

and  as  a  last  extremity  had  called  the  crew  together 
for  general  counsel.  Pale  and  terrified  faces  sur 
rounded  the  anxious  captain  as  he  looked  wistfully 
about  this  crowd  of  men,  who  had  placed  so  much 
confidence  in  him  as  to  trust  to  his  guidance  over 
the  wide  seas ;  after  a  few  words,  explaining  the 
great  danger  they  were  in,  he  asked  if  any  one  had 
any  plans  to  suggest  other  than  had  already  been 
tried,  or  if  any  one  could  suggest  any  means  of 
saving  life,  if  any  could  possibly  be  saved  in  such 
a  raging  sea.  It  seems  that  before  leaving  port  the 
vessel  had  been  furnished  with  a  new  deck,  and  the 
thought  popped  into  Jim's  head  that  this  had  not 
perhaps  occurred  to  the  captain,  and  in  spite  of  fear 
and  distress,  creaking  timbers  and  raging  waves,  he 
shouted  at  the  top  of  his  lungs,  "  Stick  to  the  new 
deck,  captain."  The  storm  abated,  and  the  crew 
found  no  necessity  for  sticking  to  the  new  deck, 
except  as  it  formed  a  part  of  the  ship  to  which  it 
belonged :  but  the  captain  lost  no  opportunity  to 
reprimand  Jim  for  his  unbecoming  levity,  exhibited 
as  it  had  been  at  a  time  when  they  could  scarcely 
call  their  lives  their  own. 


III. 

A    change    came    o'er    the    spirit    of   my 
dream."— BYRON. 


A  College  joke  to  cure  the  dumps."— SWIFT. 


Several  times  Jim  made  this  trip  to  the  French 
coast,  and  he  became  quite  familiar  with  the  French 
people  and  their  customs.  He  relates  how  once  at 
Bordeaux  he  ventured  to  walk  out  in  the  street  with 
one  of  the  waitresses  of  his  boarding  house,  when 
they  met  the  girl's  lover,  a  "  johnny  arms,"  as  he 
calls  him,  (probably  a  gendarme^)  and  the  irate  lover 
gave  full  chase  to  the  offending  sailor,  "  And,"  says 
Jim,  "  I  flew  for  .ship  board,  and  the  way  I  ran  was 
just  nobody's  business,  whew !  whew  ! " 

Professor  Jim  never  learned  the  French  language, 
nor  even  the  Spanish,  although  he  had  so  many  op 
portunities,  but  then  he  never  could  get  hold  of  the 
right  moment  for  such  things,  and  very  calmly  re 
plies,  if  expostulated  with,  "  Why,  it  aint  no  kind 
o'  use  any  how." 

Foreigners  of  all  classes  he  affects  to  despise,  and 
prizes  the  true  blooded  Yankee  above  all  things,  ex 
cept  when  it  proves  to  be  a  pirate  vessel,  and  that, 
one  from  which  he  has  had  to  run  for  his  life. 

After  this  memorable  voyage  Jim  began  to  tire  of 
the  high  seas,  and  settled  down  more  to  home  life, 
and  for  a  short  time  acted  as  sailor,  first  in  a  packet 


44  BIOGRAPHY   OP 

plying  between  Norwich,  Conn.,  and  New  York,  and 
next  as  fireman  in  the  steamer  Eagle,  plying  between 
Norwich  and  New  London,  and  then  his  sailor  life 
came  to  an  end.  Jim  left  the  water  to  become 
a  landsman,  and  found  work  in  the  stone  quarries 
at  Portland,  Conn.,  where  he  remained  for  two  years, 
and  then  for  two  years  more  he  lived  with  a  gentle 
man  in  Middletown  as  general  servant,  gardener,  and 
hostler.  At  the  expiration  of  his  service  in  Mid 
dletown  he  came  to  Hartford  to  live,  as  waiter  in 
the  old  City  Hotel,  (kept  by  a  Mr.  Bennett,)  and 
while  there  his  active  movements  and  his  willing 
ness  to  do  a  favor  and  to  show  himself  ready  at  any 
time,  won  the  good  will  of  Mrs.  Brownell,  who,  with 
the  Bishop,  was  then  boarding  at  the  hotel,  and  he 
finally  became  a  servant  in  the  Bishop's  house,  where 
he  remained  for  a  number  of  years. 

Bishop  Brownell  moved  his  family  from  New  York 
to  Hartford  in  1821,  and  Prof.  Jim  asserts  that  he 
became  a  part  of  the  Bishop's  household  almost  at 
the  same  time. 

The  College  was  founded  in  1823,  and  the  care 
of  the  morning-bell  fell  to  Jim,  and  it  was  some 
years  before  the  exclusive  care  of  "dust  and  ashes" 
fell  to  his  portion. 

Pretty  well  advanced  in  life,  it  occurred  to  the 
janitor,  now  settled  at  steady  employment,  that  the 
delights  of  the  home  circle  might  as  well  be  his  own 
as  well  as  the  comfort  of  other  men  about  him. 


PROF.    JIM. 


45 


About  the  same  time  that  Jim  came  to  Hartford 
to  live,  a  family  living  on  Trumbull  street  had  a 
slave  girl  in  their  employ,  who  used  occasionally  to 
visit  some  of  the  friends  of  the  janitor,  and  there 
Prof.  Jim  made  her  acquaintance.  The  courtship 
was  not  of  long  duration,  and  the  course  of  true 
love  ran  smoothly,  and  says  Jim,  u  She  had  no 
friends  in  the  world,  nor  had  I,  and  so  we  were  mar 
ried,"  and  the  couple  began  housekeeping  in  a  little 
house  on  the  lot  adjoining  the  college  grounds,  where 
the  city  park  now  lies. 

Jim's  attachment  to  the  founder  of  Trinity  Col 
lege,  and  to  his  family  was  very  strong,  and  he 
speaks  very  feelingly  of  his  relations  with  them  all. 
How  he  "toted"  the  children  around;  how  he 
"'tended  to  all  the  marketing  and  would  let  the 
Bishop  do  nothing  at  all.  Why,  sir,  he  didn't  know 
nothin'  'bout  sugar  and  groceries,  or  meat,  or  vege 
tables,  or  nothin',  but  I'd  'tend  the  whole  of  it  my 
self." 

At  first  the  college  consisted  of  but  one  building, 
i.  «.,  Jarvis  Hall,  then  soon  afterwards  Seabury  Hall 
was  built,  and  these  two  buildings  formed  the  entire 
college  for  a  number  of  years. 

During  the  time  that  Bishop  Brownell  was  the 
presiding  officer,  Prof.  Jim  was  constantly  at  the 
college,  excepting  one  winter,  when  he  went  back  to 
the  City  Hotel,  but  with  the  coming  spring  he  re 
turned  again  to  his  duties  as  janitor. 


46  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

Prof.  Jim's  college  life  thus  began  with  the  birth 
of  Trinity  College,  and  it  is  now  half  a  century  since 
that  important  moment.  The  most  difficult  part  of 
his  biography  to  relate  lies  within  these  fifty  years. 
The  life  of  a  college  janitor  is,  at  the  best,  only 
routine,  and  although  during  so  long  a  time  many 
changes  have  taken  place  in  the  outside  world,  they 
do  not  lie  within  the  sphere  which  we  are  describ 
ing.  The  college  bell  has  been  the  almost  constant 
charge  of  Jim  since  his  connection  with  the  college, 
and  the  responsibility  has  been  faithfully  met,  as 
our  own  experience  assures  us,  and  even  when  "  the 
tongue  was  not  thar,"  yet  Prof.  Jim  has  been  on 
time,  and  mounting  to  the  belfry  would  hammer  out 
the  call  to  students,  laughing  with  the  best  of  them. 
His  laughs,  however,  meant  that  he  was  yet  even 
with  them. 

During  the  earlier  days  of  his  career  he  was  face 
tiously  dubbed  Professor,  though  when  and  by  whom 
he  does  not  recollect,  and  the  title  adheres  as  firmly 
as  if  he  had  in  reality  taken  his  diploma.  He  says 
that  it  is  "  Dust  and  ashes"  he  professes!  or  in 
plainer  English,  that  the  department  of  dust  and 
ashes  is  his  peculiar  right.  Since  however  he  has 
been  unable  through  the  infirmity  of  years  to  su 
perintend  the  "ashes,"  he  has  preferred  to  be  called 
the  Professor  of  secrets,  the  whole  force  of  this  title 
lying  in  one  of  his  own  sayings,  viz :  "  What  you 
knows.  I  knows,  and  nobody  else  knows."  Profess- 


PROF.    JIM.  47 

ing  that  although  he  is  fully  aware  of  the  mischief 
inherent  in  college  students,  yet  he  has  never  been 
guilty  of  informing  the  authorities  when  occasion 
has  presented  itself. 

His  faithful  attendance  to  the  bell  has  been  the 
cause  of  Several  poetic  effusions  from  rhyming  stu 
dents,  to  whom  the  bell  has  been  a  provoking  re 
minder  of  the  call  of  duty,  and  it  was  formerly  the 
delight  of  the  Senior  to  shout  from  a  window  on  the 
morning  after  class  day,  while  the  bell  was  calling 
the  under  class-men  to  their  recitations,  "  Where's 
the  fire  ?  where' s  the  fire  ? "  One  of  these  poetic 
seniors  contributed  the  following  lines  to  an  early 
number  of  the  Tablet,  and  we  insert  them  in  full. 

AFTER   CLASS   DAY. 
Strain  well  your  time-worn  hempen  rope, 

"  Professor  Jim/'  both  bold  and  true, 
And  give  your  muscles  ample  scope  ; 

Who  cares  for  college  bell  or  you  ? 

,  There  was  a  time  I  heard  its  peal 

With  quickened  pulse  and  ravished  ear, 
But  now — ring  on,  for  now  I  feel, 
That  you  may  ring  while  I  lie  here 

And  snore  away  without  remorse, 

Or  fear  of  Faculty  or  Law; 
For  I  have  done  my  College  course — 

Am  independent  as  a  saw. 

See  how  the  trembling  fellows  run, 
Juniors,  Sophs.,  and  Freshmen  too— 


48  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

While  I  lie  here  and  see  the  fun, 
And  care  not,  "  Jim/'  for  bell  or  you. 

So  pull  away,  my  hearty  man, 
And  make  her  peal  out  wild  and  fre'e  ! 

Pull,  pull  away,  pull  all  you  can — 
For  all  your  pulling — wakes  not  me. 

Next  to  the  care  of  the  bell  it  is  Prof.  Jim's  duty 
to  summon  students  when  their  presence  is  required 
by  the  Faculty. 

Accustomed  to  dodges  of  all  kinds,  nothing  will 
discourage  him,  and  he  has  been  known  to  take  a 
seat  outside  the  door  of  a  student's  room  and  to  sit 
there  for  hours,  "  bound  to  catch  that  fellow,"  if  he 
had  to  sit  there  a  week,  and  he  is  usually  successful, 
for  many  years'  experience  has  taught  him  how  to 
proceed  with  a  sure  chance  of  success. 

Jim  facetiously  says  that  he  is  on  the  "  war  path" 
when  he  is  hunting  for  students  who  are  to  appear 
before  the  Faculty  to  answer  for  some  misbehavior. 

He  divided  his  time  between  the  house  duties  at 
the  Bishop's  and  bell-ringing  early  in  the  morning 
at  the  college,  for  a  number  of  years,  and  assisted 
the  established  janitor  in  the  "  ashes  department," 
till  finally  he  was  himself  advanced  to  the  important 
post  of  head  janitor,  which  position  he  held  faith 
fully  for  a  period  of  thirty  years ;  in  later  days  he 
began  to  feel  the  infirmities  of  old  age  creeping 
upon  him,  and  his  labors  have  been  materially  light 
ened,  and  he  at  the  present  time  rings  the  bells  for 


PROF.    JIM.  49 

recitation  and  for  rising,  as  he  did  half  a  century 
ago,  and  besides,  lights  the  fires  in  the  lecture  rooms 
and  "blows"  the  chapel  organ. 

Many  witticisms,  sharp  and  original,  have  dropped 
from  the  mouth  of  the  aged  janitor,  and  if  it  were 
possible  to  collect  a  memorabilia  of  these  bons  mots 
they  would  be  as  amusing  as  Joe  Miller's  jests,  but 
they  are  like  flashes  of  light,  sparkling  for  a  mo 
ment  and  then  lost  forever,  except  when  they  recur 
to  the  memory  of  some  graduate,  or  to  the  amused 
student  as  he  recalls  the  occasion  of  the  utterance. 

Since  its  foundation  there  have  been  eight  Presi 
dents  of  the  college,  viz :  Bishop  Brownell,  until 
1831;  Rev.  N.  S.  Wheaton,  D.  D.,  from  1831  to 
1837 ;  Rev.  Silas  Totten,  D.  D.,  from  1837  to  1848; 
Rev.  John  Williams,  D.  D.,  an  Alumnus  of  the  col 
lege,  from  1848  to  1853  ;  Rev.  D.  R.  Goodwin,  D.  D., 
from  1853  to  1860  ;  Samuel  Eliot,  LL.  D.,  from  1860 
to  1864;  Rev.  J.  B.  Kerfoot,  D.  D.,  from  1864  to 
1866 ;  and  since  1866,  Rev.  A.  Jackson,  an  Alum 
nus  of  the  college. 

Of  each  and  all  of  these  gentlemen  Prof.  Jim  has 
a  vivid  remembrance. 

From  1851  to  1854  the  theological  school,  subse 
quently  removed  to  Middletown,  was  a  part  of  the 
college,  and  the  theologians  used  to  delight  in  the 
discussions  which  Prof.  Jim  was  always  ready  to 
enter  into.  I  am  indebted  to  one  of  these  same 
5 


50  BIOGRAPHY  OF 

theologians,  now  an  eminent  clergyman,  for  the  fol 
lowing  anecdote : 

Prof.  Jim  was  advancing  the  strongest  arguments 
against  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  waxing  eloquent 
over  the  assumed  virtue  of  the  patriarchs  in  this 
respect,  when  he  was  posed  for  a  moment  by  a 
student,  who  asked  him  "  how  it  was  in  the  case  of 
Noah?" 

Jim's  reply  was  soon  ready,  however. 

"  Oh  ! "  says  he,  "  there  are  a  good  many  kinds 
of  intopsication,  and  Noah's  was  intopsication  of 
spirit." 

Another  time,  while  the  Professor  was  in  one  of 
the  upper  windows  of  a  college  building,  a  freshman 
thought  it  would  be  an  excellent  joke  to  hide  Jim's 
wheelbarrow,  and,  unconscious  that  Jim  was  watch 
ing  him  all  the  time,  carried  it  with  great  effort  up 
stairs,  and  piled  wood  from  the  wood-pile  over  it. 
When  he  had  finished,  Jim's  head  came  forward,  • 
and  in  tones  of  withering  sarcasm  he  said  :  "  0,  you 
fresh!!"  The  mortified  freshman  actually  carried 
the  wheelbarrow  back  to  the  place  from  which  he 
had  brought  it,  and  we  would  be  willing  to  wager 
troubled  Professor  Jim  no  more  that  year. 

One  of  the  earlier  Presidents  greatly  enraged  the 
janitor  by  interfering,  as  he  termed  it,  with  his  (the 
janitor's)  rights.  Anger  rankled  in  the  offended 
servitor's  bosom,  but  he  had  no  means  of  appeasing 
the  pain  till  on  one  occasion  he  shot  the  b')lt  directly 


'  PROF.    JIM.  51 

home  in  this  way.  The  newly  elected  President  ac 
costed  him  one  morning  with,  "  Good  day,  James ; 
well,  you  have  lived  to  see  quite  a  number  of  changes 
in  the  college  since  you've  been  here,  —  Presidents 
in  all,  haven't  you  ? "  "  Yes,"  said  Jim,  u  Yes,  sir, 
I've  lived  to  see  —  Presidents  over  this  'ere  college, 
and,"  drawing  his  form  as  erect  as  possible,  "  I  hope 
to  live  to  see  another"  He  had  had  his  revenge  (!), 
and  it  was  very  sweet  to  him,  and  he  glories  over  it 
to  .this  day. 

From  the  earliest  records  Prof.  Jim  has  been  a 
prominent  personage  at  Class-Day  celebrations,  and 
it  is  an  established  custom  to  give  the  worthy  janitor 
some  substantial  memento  before  the  class  breaks 
up,  and  the  responses  of  Jim  are  among  the  pleas- 
antest  reminiscences  of  that  crowning  day  of  the 
college  course.  Once  he  used  to  fill  the  pipes  and 
distribute  the  punch  to  the  class  while  the  literary 
exercises  were  proceeding,  but  of  late  years  he  has 
been  obliged  to  yield  these  last  duties  to  younger 
and  sprightlier  assistants,  and  he  retains  his  seat  in 
the  circle  with  the  class. 

The  presiding  officer  of  the  day  tenderly  escorts 
the  old  grey-headed  man  to  his  post  of  honor,  and 
again  escorts  him  to  the  scene  of  the  ivy-planting, 
every  one  present  yielding  a  respectful  deference  to 
the  years  and  the  associations  connected  with  this 
faithful  servitor. 

A  representative  of  the  class,  before  the  close  of 


52  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

the  exercises,  speaks  the  word  of  parting,  and  ten 
ders  a  purse  to  Prof.  Jim,  and  he,  half  in  humor 
half  in  sorrow,  gives  vent  to  words  which  must  be 
heard  to  be  well  appreciated.  The  mingled  pathos 
and  wit  with  which  the  old  janitor  endeavors  to  ex 
press  his  gratitude,  his  sorrow  at  parting  with  friend 
ly  faces,  and  to  give  his  advice  which  experience  has 
taught  him  all  young  men  need  ere  they  undertake 
their  journey  by  themselves,  altogether,  render  the 
production  one  of  interest. 

In  the  absence  of  all  available  data  we  are  obliged 
to  content  ourselves  with  those  reports  we  have  by  us, 
but  scanty  as  they  prove  to  be  they  are  sufficient  to 
show  the  tenor  of  Prof.  Jim's  remarks. 

We  are  pleased  to  be  able  to  give  in  full  two  of 
the  speeches  in  which  he  responds  to  the  well-wish 
ers  of  the  graduating  class.     The    earliest   account 
we  can  find  of  a  class-day  entertainment  is  of  the 
silmmer  of  1855,  when  a  purse  filled  with  gold  was 
presented  to  the  venerable  Professor  by  the    class 
graduating  that  year.     The  presentation  and  address 
was  made  through  Mr.  Geo.  A.  Woodward,  and  Prof. 
Jim  is  reported  as  replying  "  with  much  earnestness 
and  ability." 

In  the  summer  of  1863,  a  correspondent  of  the 
Hartford  Evening  Press  reported  in  full  the  response 
of  Jim  after  the  presentation  of  the  customary  purse  ; 
(it  was  not  of  gold  this  time.) 


PROF.    JIM.  53 

J.  S.  Smith  of  Randolph,  Vt.,  made  the  presenta 
tion  and  Prof.  Jim  replied : 

"  While  I've  got  to  be  deprived  o'  these  young 
gentlemen,  very  near  and  dear  friends,  you,  young 
ladies,  has  got  to  lose  your  armor  bearers !  You 
have  treated  'em  so  handsomely  an'  smiled  upon  'em 
so  sweetly,  that  you've  kept  them  when  they  had  ort 
to  be  a  studyin'. 

"  I  done  all  I  could  to  have  'cm  study  when  they 
ort  to,  but  they  cooden  resis'  your  smiles.  But  I 
won't  put  no  more  on  you  than  you  can  bear. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  has  been  very  kind  to  me,  an'  our 
communion  has  been  sweet  together,  our  words  has 
been  soft,  an'  what  you  know  I  knows,  an'  nobody 
else  knows. 

•"  But  we've  got  to  take  our  departur  !  What  will 
become  of  you  ?  the  Lord  knows.  Some  may  go  to 
the  sandy  shores  of  Arabia,  some  on  you  to  the  tropi 
cal  wilds  of  Africa — its  your  own  fault  if  you  ain't 
fitted  to  travel  to  any  part  o*  the  state  !  The  Lord 
bless  you — you  knows  I  always  felt  a  warm  interest 
in  your  soul's  welfare  an'  worked  for  your  salva 
tion. 

uYou  call  me  professor,  an'  so  you  may.  I'm  pro 
fessor  o'  secrets.  What  you  tell  me  I  don't  tell. 
How  you  worked  and  studied  all  night  arter  you'd 
been  off,  and  worried  for  fear  you  wooden  get  your 
conditions. 


54  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

"  How  you  had  to  be  dragged  out  by  the  heels  from 
under  the  bed,  sometimes  to  go  and  visit  the  faculty. 

"  How  you  got  along  nicely  till  you  run  against 
chronics.  Chronics  was  hard. 

"  But  Chronics  is  gone  and  Eucly  is  gone.  It's  your 
your  own  fault  if  your  mind  ain't  furnished  with  a 
good  edication  to  go  anywhere. 

"  I  thank  you  for  this  purse.  No  matter  how  little 
it  is,  no  matter  how  great  it  is,  it  aint  so  precious  as 
friends.  A  man  that  hain't  got  a  cent  in  his  pocket 
and  has  a  near  and  dear  friend,  is  rich — he's  got 
somebody  that  cares  for  him.  If  it's  gold  it  will 
canker  ;  if  it's  silver  it  will  rust ;  if  it's  copperheads 
— you  know  what  becomes  o'  them.  But  friendship 
lasts  allers,  I  trus  you'll  allers  be  benevolent — your 
hand  open  always  to  resist  the  needy. 

"  Our  communion  has  been  sweet,  but  we've  got  to 
take  our  departur. 

"  Where  ere  you  go  may  the  Lord  bless  yer — may 
these  sweet  ladies  keep  the  pairs  o'  gloves  you  give 
'em  till  you  come  back.  You  know  I  always  had  an 
interest  in  your  salvation — the  Lord  bless  yer." 

A  correspondent  to  a  Philadelphia  paper,  in  the 
summer  of  1865,  relating  the  events  of  class  day  at 
Trinity,  notes  Prof.  Jim  in  such  pleasant  words  that 
we  quote  them  in  full,  feeling  assured  that  they  will 
recall  to  every  graduate  of  the  college  our  hero  in 
propria  persona. 

"  The   Professor    is    one   of  the   institutions   of 


PROF.    JIM.  55 

the  College,  and  if  you  are  not  already  acquainted 
with  him  you  ought  to  be  and  I  will  endeavor  to 
make  you.  He  has  been  called  janitor,  bell  ringer, 
&c.,  for  almost  forty  years;  is  a  fine  looking  speci 
men  of  an  ancient  African,  black  as  jet,  grey-headed, 
good-looking  and  intelligent.  He  wore  on  this  sol 
emn  occasion  a  dress  coat  and  silk  hat,  and  carried 
in  his  hand  an  enormous  gold-headed  cane,  the  gift 
of  a  former  class.  His  oration  was  at  this,  as  at  all 
times,  the  most  remarkable,  if  not  the  most  classic 
feature  of  the  whole  entertainment. 

"  The  mixture  of  Ethiopian  wit,  piety,  and  elo 
quence  was.  so  droll  that  it  was  momentarily  greeted 
with  perfect  roars  of  laughter.  When  he  meant 
to  be  most  solemn,  he  excited  most  merriment.  But 
the  old  Professor,  in  no  wise  abashed,  kept  steadily 
on,  exhorting  and  thanking  and  counselling  his 
"  young  frens,"  giving  expression  to  whatever  came 
uppermost  in  his  mind,  without  the  least  regard  to 
grammar,  arrangement,  or  punctuation  until  he 
had  had  his  say. 

"  Among  other  things  quite  as  good,  but  they  have 
escaped  my  memory,  he  referred  very  tenderly  to  the 
'  canopy  of  time,'  '  the  shores  of  this  College/ 
and  ;  this  here  beautiful  canvass  '  (campus) . 

"  He  declared,  in  a  very  impressive  manner,  that 
this  would  be  his  last  appearance  '  upon  that  place/ 
but  as  he  has  made  the  same  declaration,  just  so  sol 
emnly  too,  every  class  day  for  the  last  twenty  years, 


56  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

the  sentiment  failed  to  excite  the  tears  of  his  audi 
tory. 

However  the  end  must  come  to  the  venerable 
James.  When  it  does  come  may  he  be  kindly  dealt 
with  and  made  happy  forever." 

From  another  correspondent  we  quote  the  speech 
of  the  occasion  in  full. 

SPEECH. 

"  Gentlemen  of  de  class  of  '65  :  I'se  very  happy  at 
dis  time  to  meet  you.  Let  me  say  at  dis  time  that 
I  have  to  regret  the  loss.  I  desire  to  know,  'fore  I 
go  any  further,  if  the  editor  of  the  Times  is  here  [he 
stood  within  a  few  feet  of  him],  I  want  to  say,  if  he 
is,  that  even  a  poor  ignorant  man  like  me  might  have 
told  him  something  better  to  write  than  he  did  las' 
clas'  day.  (Laughter.) 

"  Gentlemen  of  '65  :  Your  secrets  is  mine.  What 
you  knows  I  know.  Though  you  stopped  up  the  key 
holes  with  putty,  an'  froze  up  de  bell,  no  matter.  I 
was  bound  you  should'nt  lose  a  recitation,  if  I  had  to 
take  the  door  off  de  hinges.  I  allers  get  through 
somehow. 

"  Gentlemen  :  We  never  had  no  difficulty.  All 
you  treated  rne  as  gentlemen.  Ladies,  you  will 
remember  the  class  of  '65 — you'se  got  a  good  many 
friends  among  'em. 

"  There  sits  a  young  man  whose  father  entered  col 
lege  and  graduated  with  honor  and  dignity  to  his  par 
ents,  and  allers  instructed  him  in  his  duty. 


PROF.    JIM.  57 

"  Gentlemen :  What  is  that,  and  that  ?  (pointing 
to  the  vacant  chairs  of  Haynes  and  Lewis,  draped  in 
black).  There's  something  gone.  Precious  souls  t 
precious  souls !  Remember,  gentlemen,  you  are  now 
in  de  flower  of  your  youth.  You're  soon  goin'  to 
leave  this  college,  this  splended  canvas — don't  neg 
lect  to  make  acquaintance  with  the  Supreme  Being. 

"  Oh,  my  beloved  friends,  who  has  been  instructed 
in  de  class,  in  de  canopy  of  Heaven,  or  on  de  shores: 
of  Trinity  College  !  (Sensation.) 

"  Gentlemen  :  I  hold  in  my  hand  (lifting  his  gold- 
headed  cane)  something  presented  to  me  in  1864, 
that  I  prize  above  all  my  heart.  I  stand  before  you 
in  my  ignerance — 'scuse  me. 

"  0  my  beloved  class,  whar  are-yougoiri*  ?  (Laugh 
ter  and  applause.)  You  may  enter  de  ministry,  you 
may  enter  de  lor — wherever  you  go,  remember  de  in 
structions  you  received  here.  0  these  glorious  walls 
— the  chimes  o'  dem  bells.  It's  a  wonder  dey  don't 
ring  out  peace  to  your  beloved  souls. 

"  Gentlemen :  I've  had  to  dig  de  putty  out  de  key 
holes  with  my  jack-knife.  But,  Prof.  Jim,  as  you 
call  him,  would  go  through  de  walls  but  I'd  have 
you  out.  It  was  a  glory  to  me  when  you  work  all 
night  to  freeze  up  de  bell,  thinking  to  lay  in  your 
beds  in  de  morning,  but  I'd  bring  you  out. 

"  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  I  never  had  no  difficulty 
with  a  student.  We  allers  run  together.  What 
they  knew  I  knew,  and  what  they  didn't  know  I 


58  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

could  tell  'em  !  This  is  the  last  Class  Day  I  expect 
to  be  here. 

"  Gentlemen,  you  are  celebrating  your  last  Class 
Day.  Whar  are  your  faders  and  moders  ?  Ar'  dey 
here  to  enjoy  clis  occasion  so  happy  wid  you  ? — to  go 
out  wid  you  into  a  world  of  temptations  and  sin,  and 
guide  you  along  ?  If  not,  I  warn  you  of  de  tempta- 
tations  dat  beset  young  men  of  your  character. 

"  The  high  privileges  that  has  been  granted  to  you 
and  de  benefit  of  a  Supreme  Being  you  ought  to  ap 
preciate  as  gentlemen  !  Gentlemen,  I  bid  you  all  a 
final  farewell;  I  could  say  much  more,  but  time  won't 
admit." 

The  presentation  of  the  purse  this  year  was  made 
by  G.  A.  Coggeshall,  of  South  Portsmouth,  R.  I. 

The  class  of  '69  presented  him  with  a  silver  watch 
in  place  of  the  customary  purse.  Jim's  reply  is  not 
reported,  but  it  was  said  to  be  full  of  sly  hits  and  one 
of  his  very  happiest.  Mr.  W.  B.  Buckingham,  of 
South  Carolina,  represented  his  class  in  this  present 
ation. 

So  Class  Day  is  a  bright  period  in  Prof.  Jim's  life; 
and  yet,  as  he  truly  says,  there  is  every  probability 
that  he  will  see  but  few  more  of  these  pleasant  cele 
brations,  and  Class  Day  will  hardly  seem  a  Class  Day 
without  him.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing  to  see  a  living 
servant  who  for  fifty  long  years  has  faithfully  fulfilled 
his  duties  in  one  house  or  one  family;  and  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  the  Alumni  of  Trinity  feel 


PROF.    JIM.  59 

proud  of  Prof.  Jim,  and  that  strangers  learning  his 
history  look  upon  him  with  profound  interest.  Such 
a  personage  as  he,  will  rarely  be  met  with  wherever 
we  may  go,  and  every  class  for  which  this  aged  jani 
tor  lias  shown  his  respect  and  to  whom  he  has  given 
his  parting  blessing  will  hold  it  among  their  fondest 
recollections  that"  Prof.  Jim  "  was  a  participator  in 
their  Class  Day. 

One  memorable  event  in  the  life  of  the  janitor  re 
mains  to  be  recorded. 

In  the  campaign  of  1867  he  was  duly  nominated 
Vice  President  of  the  United  States,  somewhat  in 
this  wise.  It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  the 
college,  of  Daniel  Pratt,  the  Great  American  Trav 
eler.  A  local  paper  describes  the  affair  thus  : 

"  Daniel  Pratt,  the  celebrated  traveler,  has  again 
honored  our  city  with  his  presence.  Yesterday  after 
noon,  he  spoke  before  a  delighted  audience  at  Trinity 
College.  The  oration  was  a  highly  polished,  schol 
arly  affair,  abounding  in  flowers  of  rhetoric  and 
striking  similes.  At  the  conclusion'of  his  oration,  he 
was  unanimously  nominated  for  the  Presidency  in 
1868.  Mr.  Pratt  modestly  accepted  the  honor  and 
proceeded  to  define  his  position,  and  establish  his 
platform. 

"  HON.  JAMES  WILLIAMS,  commonly  called  <  Prof. 
Jim,'  was  nominated  for  Vice  President.  Mr.  Pratt 
was  very  uneasy  about  the  nomination  as  he  feared 
Mr.  Williams  was  not  legally  qualified,  as  to  age,  etc. 


60  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

but  on  being  assured  that  he  was  of  a  suitable 
age,  and  that  he  had  been  a  resident  graduate  of  the 
College  for  the  last  twenty-one  years,  he  consented 
to  Mr.  Williams'  nomination.  He  further  said  that 
in  case  anything  should  transpire  still  he  could  ex 
ercise  his  veto  power. 

"  It  is  proprosed  by  some  of  our  leading  citizens  to 
engage  Mr.  Pratt,  regardless  of  expense,  to  deliver 
a  course  of  lectures  on  American  History,  the  potato 
rot,  etc.  By  his  varied  attainments  acquired  by  ex 
tensive  travels,  Mr.  Pratt  is  among  the  first  orators 
of  the  country." 

We  did  not  hear  that  Prof.  Jim  was  elected. 


As  we  close  these  few  chapters  let  us  review  for  a 
moment  the  biography  we  have  thus  scantily  passed 
over.  James  Williams  first  appears  as  a  slave  boy 
in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  City  eighty-three  years 
ago,  next  a  hostler,  then  a  fugitive  from  his  home 
and  a  sailor  in  a  trading  vessel.  Time  passes  011  and 
he  is  impressed  into  the  British  service,  then  runs 
away  in  a  romantic  manner  and  is  afterwards  ship 
ped  on  board  a  well-known  naval  vessel  which  fig 
ures  extensively  in  the  war  of  1812.  After  this  he 
visits  in  his  travels,  Spain,  France,  makes  a  long  trip 
to  the  East  Indies,  to  China,  and  then  returns  to 
New  York.  Before  this  he  had  been  along  the  shores 


PROF.    JIM.  61 

of  Africa,  both  on  the  South  Atlantic  and  in  the 
Mediterranean,  then  to  Turkey  and  to  Greece.  He 
visits  South  America  as  a  sailor  on  board  a  pirate 
vessel  and  makes  a  romantic  escape  at  San  Salvador. 
He  travels  about  from  place  to  place  and  sees  and 
hears  the  most  wonderful  things,  till  at  length  we 
find  him  settled  as  janitor  at  Trinity  College,  and 
growing  old  with  that  institution,  becoming  himself 
an  interesting  personage  in  its  history.  He  saw  the 
walls  of  the  College  rise  and,  strange  to  say,  lives  to 
see  them  taken  down  again.  He  has  witnessed  the 
planting  of  many  ivies  which  have  grown  from  the 
simple  slip  to  the  wide  spreading  vines,  and  he  lives 
to  see  them  cut  down  at  the  roots  and  taken  away. 
He  has  witnessed  the  graduation  of  six  hundred  and 
fifty  students  from  his  adopted  home,  and  he  out 
lives  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  that  number.  What 
an  experience  his  has  been ! 

For  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  an  active  member 
of  the  Methodist  Society  to  which  he  joined  himself. 
In  fact  he  was  one  of  the  original  founders  of  the 
African  Zion  Methodist  Church  in  this  city  nearly 
fifty  years  ago,  and  he  feels  that  it  is  part  and  parcel 
of  himself ;  he  is  as  revered  and  his  counsels  taken 
as  much  to  heart  as  if  he  were  the  regular  preacher 
to  the  congregation  ;  and  indeed  the  venerable  jani 
tor  is  duly  respected  by  every  one  with  whom  he  is 
acquainted.  He  is  polite,  and  has  a  pleasant  word  to 
say  at  all  times. 
6 


62  BIOGRAPHY    OF    PROF.    JIM. 

Long  may  his  memory  live  with  those  to  whom 
his  name  and  face  are  most  familiar.  Wherever  the 
graduate  of  Trinity  goes,  wherever  the  memory  of 
Trinity  College  remains  green,  there  we  feel  assur 
ed  will  linger  a  recollection  of  the  Prince  of  College 
Janitors, 

PROFESSOR  JIM. 


ADD  END  A. 


After  the  manuscript  of  this  work  was  ready  for 
the  press  a  letter  was  received  per  the  Editor  of  the 
Hartford  Courant  from  the  Great  Grandson  of  Col. 
Robert,  Jim's  master.  The  letter  is  by  permission 
given  here.  It  confirms  Prof.  Jim's  statement  fully 
and  adds  one  more  witness  to  the  reliability  of  the 
aged  janitor's  memory.  The  letter  is  addressed  to 
the  Courant,  advance  sheets  of  the  biography  appear 
ing  in  that  paper  in  March. 

NEW  YORK,  March  29th,  1873. 
Editor  Hartford  Courant : 

DEAR  SIR. 

I  have  just  read  with  much  interest  in  the  N.  Y. 
Evening  Post,  copied  from  your  journal,  an  account 
of  the  whereabouts  of  Aaron  Burr  after  the  duel 
with  General  Hamilton.  I  take  pleasure  in  verify 
ing  Professor  Jim's  statements  as  far  as  my  memory 
serves  me,  from  the  frequent  accounts  given  me  by 
my  father,  the  late  Philip  Rhinelander  Robert, 
Pomora  Hall,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.  I  do  not  recollect 
James  Williams  as  he  probably  moved  East  before 
my  time.  I  however  recollect  Hannibal  very  well, 
who  was  probably  in  the  service  of  my  Grandfather, 
Col.  John  Robert,  at  the  time  Professor  Jim  was. 
******* 

JOHN  F.  ROBERT. 


66  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

After  receiving  this  letter  an  immediate  inquiry 
was  made  after  "  Hannibal"  and  on  questioning 
Prof.  Jim  it  was  found  the  individual  in  question 
was  a  brother-in-law  to  the  janitor,  and  that  he  lived 
but  a  short  distance  from  his  house.  An  intelligent 
man  was  found,  polite  and  ready  to  answer  as  far  as 
lay  in  his  power  any  questions  that  might  be  put  to 
him. 

He  had  been  a  slave,  the  property  of  Mr.  Blackwell, 
the  son  of  the  gentleman  who  owned  the  property 
known  as  Blackwell's  Island.  Mr.  Blackwell's  estate 
was  next  adjoining  that  of  Col.  Robert,  and  it  was 
about  two  years  after  the  death  of  the  Colonel  that 
he  became  acquainted  with  Prof.  Jim's  sister  whom 
he  afterwards  married. 

It  was  the  second  year  after  the  estate  had  been 
settled,  and  Jim  and  his  sister  had  left  Yonkers,  that 
they  received  news  that  Jim  had  run  away.  It  was 
supposed  at  first  that  he  had  gone  to  Nyack  to  visit 
his  father,  but  as  he  was  not  found  there,  opinions 
were  divided  between  the  "  East  "  and  "  the  sea." 
At  any  rate  his  friends  neither  heard  from  him  or 
saw  him  again  till  the  year  after  the  emancipation  of 
slaves  in  New  York  state,  which  was  in  1817. 

Professor  Jim's  father  was  a  slave  belonging  to 
Mr.  Pugh,  of  Nyack,  but  he  was  allowed  his  freedom 
when  he  was  come  of  age,  and  for  years  worked  as 
stone  cutter  in  quarries  near  his  former  master's 
home.  His  children  were  allowed  to  visit  him  oc- 


PROF.    JIM.  67 

casionally  and  he  saw  them  several  times  a  week  till 
the  family  was  finally  broken  up  at  the  death  of  Col. 
Robert,  and  the  children  were  scattered.  We  are 
able  to  get  at  Professor  Jim's  age  more  accurately  by 
relying  upon  the  statement  of  Hannibal.  His  prob 
lem  is  worked  out  mathematically  thus. 

Hannibal's  wife  was  one  year  older  than  her  hus 
band,  and  he  is  seventy-three  years  old.  He  mar 
ried  the  fifth  child,  and  Jim  was  the  third,  and  there 
was  a  difference  of  two  years  between  the  ages  of 
the  children.  Prof.  Jim  is  therefore  eighty  years 
old. 

A  second  letter  from  Mr.  Robert  still  further  veri 
fies  Prof.  Jim's  statements  and  adds  a  few  interest 
ing  facts  to  those  already  given. 

"  The  Robert  estate  at  the  time  Jim  was  a  part  of 
the  Colonel's  family  consisted  of  500  acres ;  the  old 
family  manor  "  Pomora  Hall  "  is  now  in  the  posses 
sion  of  Sidney  B.  Morse,  Esq.,  (son  of  the  late  Prof. 
Morse). 


Mr.  Robert  very  kindly  sent  to  the  writer  two  au 
tograph  letters  written  by  Aaron  Burr  to  the  late 
Colonel  Robert.  Their  contents  show  plainly  the 
relations  existing  between  the  two  gentlemen.  We 


68  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

have  permission  to  publish  them  and  are  glad  to  be 
able  to,  for  they  have  never  been  placed  in  any  pre 
vious  collection  of  Burr's  letters. 

The  first  letter  is  dated  New  York,  May,  1800,  and 
is  not  as  clear  to  understand  as  the  second. 

DEAR  SIR: 

The  letter  from  Mr.  Prevost  and  the 
paper  inclosed  by  him  will  show  you  the  intentions 
of  your  adversaries.  As  there  is  no  prospect  that 
the  trial  would  come  on,  there  would  be  no  other  use 
in  my  attendance  than  the  pleasure  of  passing  a  day 
with  you  in  the  country.  Unfortunately  I  have  no 
time  for  amusement.  I  regret  your  disappointment 
and  my  own,  and  am  always  affec'y 

Your  friend, 
A.  BURR. 

The  second  bears  the  date,  New  York,  July  28th, 

1802. 

DEAR  SIR: 

My  pasture  is  completely  eaten  up  and 
there  being  none  on  the  Island  that  is  good,  I  send 
Harry  with  two  horses  to  your  care.  Let  them  run 
in  some  good  pasture  where  there  are  some  bushes  to 
brush  off  the  flies — These  singular  look  animals  were 
made  a  present  to  me  in  S.  Carolina.  They  are  full- 
blooded  Arabians,  and  were  brought  from  the  west 
ern  side  of  the  Mississippi.  From  their  appearance 
you  would  not  suppose  that  they  cost  800  Dolls. 


PROF.  JIM.  69 

Yet  such  I  am  told  is  the  fact.  You  may  use  them 
in  your  phaeton  if  you  please,  but  pray  take  care  that 
they  are  not  rode  by  negroes. 

Your  affec.  friend  and  servant, 

A.  BURR. 
COL.  JOHN  ROBERT. 

Professor  Jim  remembers  the  ponies  well  and  de 
scribes  them  as  spotted  red  and  white. 

"  Harryj"  mentioned  in  the  letter  was  his  mother's 
brother. 

1  "  Now  how  strange,"  says  Jim,  "  ain't  it  that 
them  ar'  letters  should  be  kept  till  this  time,  and 
about  them  ponies  ? " 


From  among  numerous  letters  received  while  writ 
ing  this  biography,  the  following  is  selected,  for  it 
shows  how  in  his  station  Jim's  influence  was  exerted 
in  behalf  of  the  College. 

St.  George's — 

SCHENECTADY,  April  2d,  1873. 
Dear  Sir : 

The  lives  of  eminent  men  are  often 
barren  of  action  and  incident.  If  such  proves  to  be 
the  case  in  regard  to  the  distinguished  individual,  for 
whose  biography  you  request  me  to  furnish  some 


70  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

materials/  it  -will  not  be  thought  an  argument  against 
his  greatness. 

It  is  a  very  humble  memorial  which  I  have  to  send. 
But  as  Boswell  thought  it  important  to  narrate  his 
first  meeting  with  Dr.  Johnson,  and  as  Lockhart  is 
particular  to  describe  Sir  Walter  Scott,  as  he  first 
saw  him ;  so  I  may  reproduce  the  occasion  of  my 
first  sight  and  knowledge  of  Professor  Jim. 

It  was  some  years  before  I  entered  Trinity,  or 
thought  of  doing  so,  and  in  my  native  town,  Chatham, 
now  Portland,  Conn.  Bishop  Brownell,  who  had 
then  moved  to  Hartford  and  assumed  the  presidency 
of  the  College,  was  to  make  a  visitation  to  our  Par 
ish  Church.  On  the  Sunday  morning  when  he  w^as 
expected,  I  stood,  a  mere  boy,  among  the  people, 
who,  as  was  then  too  much  the  custom  in  the  coun 
try,  gathered  outside  the  church  door,  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  the  minister. 

This  morning  the  number  was,  of  course,  increased 
by  the  expectation  of  seeing  the  Bishop.  In  due 
time  he  appeared,  in  the  two  wheeled  carriage — gig, 
it  was  called — in  which  he  then,  before  the  day  of 
railroads,  made  many  of  his  visitations. 

He  was  driven  by  Jim,  sitting  by  his  side.  I  can 
see  now  at  the  distance  of  more  than  forty  years  the 
grand  style  in  which  Jim  cracked  his  whip  over  the 
horse's  head,  and  wheeled  the  gig  as  he  neared  the 
steps  of  the  door,  just  avoiding  them,  having  in  his 
professional  mind,  perhaps  Horace's  meta  fervidis 


PROE    JIM.  71 

evitata  rotis.  And  I  shall  never  forget  the  self- 
satisfied  air  with  which  he  alighted,  nor  the  ease 
and  grace  of  manner  with  which  he  afterwards  as 
sisted  the  Bishop  out  of  the  carriage  and  with  a 
wave  of  the  hand  passed  him  over  to  the  'Rector  and 
Church  Wardens  who  were  there  to  receive  him. 

Bishop  Brownell  was  always  a  marked  man  in  his 
personal  appearance.  But,  at  that  time,  he  was  in 
the  prime  of  his  bodily  presence  and  manly  beauty, 
and  the  accompaniment  of  the  graceful  and  deferen 
tial  servant  on  that  occasion,  added  much  to  the  dig 
nity  and  consequence  of  the  Bishop  in  my  youthful 
eyes.  Indeed  I  do  not  know  but  the  little  incident 
had  its  influence  in  turning  my  feet  to  Trinity,  when 
afterwards  I  determined  to  go  to  college.  I  am  sure 
at  least,  there  was  a  peculiar  aesthetical  charm  about 
the  Institution,  as  it  began  under  the  accomplished 
Bishop,  who  observed  himself,  and  impressed  upon 
others,  "  the  fair  humanities  of  old  religion." 

Yours,  <fec., 

WM.  PAYNE. 
Mr.  C.  H.  Proctor. 


In  reply  to  a  letter  written  to  Dr.  J.  Bernard  Gil- 
pin,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  a  graduate  of  '31,  the  fol 
lowing  communication  was  received,  which  must  be 
of  exceeding  interest  to  every  alumnus  of  Trinity 


72  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

College  ;  not  so  much  because  Professor  Jim  was  a 
janitor  in  the  writ er 's  day,  m  fact  he  seems  hardly  to 
have  been  known  as  he  was  then  the  Bishop's  servant, 
but  because  the  letter  mentions  incidents  as  they  then 
occurred,  and  persons  who  since  that  time  have 
become  widely  known  in  cultivated  circles  as  Bishops, 
Poets,  or  Authors. 

HALIFAX,  29th  March,  1873. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

More  than  forty  and  odd  years  have 
passed  since  I  left  Hartford.  I  joined  in  1828,  fresh 
men,  third  term,  and  graduated  1831. 

My  first  year  was  famous  for  the  great  barring-out. 
Some  great  depredations  having  been  done  in  town, 
the  magistrates  summoned  by  subpoena  every  stu 
dent  and  caused  them  to  purge  themselves  by  oath. 
Taken  by  surprise  they  all  submitted,  except  Hugh 
Peters,  son  of  Judge  Peters,  who  resisted.  Coming 
back  to  college,  the  students  became  indignant, 
thinking  the  faculty  should  have  protected  them 
rather  than  have  connived  at  it,  and  at  eleven  o'clock 
lecture,  barred  college  and  chapel,  allowing  none  to 
enter.  The  Bishop  broke  down  the  south  section 
door  with  a  fence  pole  from  the  west  lane,  and  Dr. 
Doane  had  a  black  suit  ruined  by  dirty  stuff  thrown 
from  the  windows.  The  attack  ceased,  but  when 
the  evening  bell  rung  all  went  to  prayers  as  usual, 
and  no  notice  was  taken  of  it.  So  illegal  an  act  I 
hope  would  not  be  tolerated  by  the  public  now. 


PROP.  JIM.  73 

As  regards  our  habits  at  that  day,  lean  only  say  we 
had  three  daily  lectures  ;  dined  at  twelve  o'clock  and 
took  tea  at  five.  On  Saturday  morning  the  lecture 
was  before  breakfast,  only. 

Saturday  was  usually  employed  by  the  students 
at  the  various  societies,  where  they  discussed  all 
topics  but  religion.  In  after  life  I  have  often  re 
membered  the  care,  the  writers,  the  compositions, 
and  the  order  of  these  meetings ;  but  I  was  not  of 
them,  and  being  an  English  boy,  and  then  wearing 
crape  for  the  King  (George  IV)  I  could  not  stand  the 
washy  floods  of  classic  liberty  and  death  to  tyrants 
which  flowed  out,  I  cut  them  and  spent  my  Saturdays 
in  Summer  in  rambling  over  the  hills  with  my  gun,  or 
walking  over  Rocky  Hill  (as  I  now  recollect  it,  an 
elevation  of  Trap  through  Triasic  sand-stone),  or 
bathing  in  the  Connecticut.  We  usually  swam 
across  it. 

In  Winter  we  skated  on  the  Hog  river.  Mile  after 
mile  have  I  glided  on  its  reaches,  with  the  red  squirrel 
following  me  on  the  banks.  As  winter  wore  on,  we 
took  to  the  Connecticut.  Thomas  Suckley  (yet  alive 
I  think)  and  myself,  once  left  Hartford,  on  skates, 
the  bells  as  was  the  custom  ringing  high  twelve, 
went  to  Middletown,  and  returned.  Opposite  Mother 
Buncos  at  Wethersfield,  twilight  caught  us,  and 
for  fear  of  air  holes,  we  walked  into  Ihe  city.  We 
considered  we  would  have  reached  home  by  five, 
as  we. timed  ourselves  at  other  times  to  fifteen  min- 
"  7 


74  BIOGRAPHY    OF 

utes  from  Wethersfield  home.    We  thought  we  made 
fifty  miles  in  five  hours,  or  nearly. 

The  Junior  exhibition,  and  parts  of  Commence 
ment,  were  studied  for  with  the  greatest  ardor,  and 
our  orations,  so  called  then,  were  spoken  in  black 
silk  gowns  which  were  hired  from  Stockbridge  the 
tailor.  Notwithstanding  undergraduates  are  not  en 
titled  to  sleeves,  unless  King's  scholars,  they  all  had 
the  pudding  or  full  Doctor's  robe  sleeve. 

Of  the  undergraduates  of  my  years  who  have  ar 
rived  to  fame,  Park  Benjamin  might  be  seen  lifted 
on  his  pretty  barb  mare  by  his  servant  for  his  daily 
ride. 

Bailey,  R.  C.  Bishop  of  Baltimore,  was  the  hand 
somest  and  most  gentle  nurtured  youth  in  the  Col 
lege.  Vail,  now  I  think  a  Bishop,  joined,  a  weakly 
boy,  studied  muscular  Christianity  and  left  a  strap 
ping  fellow.  He  gained  more  than  a  good  degree. 

The  Southern  General  Hill  I  think  was  my  class 
mate.  Cornwall  walked  off  with  the  valedictory  from 
two  or  three  of  us  who  were  bracketed  number  two. 

Of  the  notable  outsiders  then  seen  in  the  streets 
of  Hartford,  Imleywas  the  personification  of  wealth  ; 
Wadsworth  lived  in  good  form  at  his  mansion  in 
town,  but  his  toy  castle  already  wore  the  look  of  a 
forgotten  plaything  ;  Mrs.  Sigourney  wrote,  and  tried 
in  vain  to  colonize  her  side  of  our  river  with  squirrels 
which  abounded  on  ours  ;  Prentice  daily  sat  on  the 
steps  of  the  U.  S.  Hotel,  and  "  Fanny  Fern  "  and  her 


PROF.    JIM.  75 

brother  N.  P.  Willis  were  frequent  visitors  to  our 
city. 

Dr.  Hawes,  even  then  was  gray,  but  erect  and 
firm  in  his  saddle,  and  might  have  been  seen  almost 
daily  putting  his  sturdy  brown  cob  with  a  crooked  tail 
through  all  weathers  and  roads.  Miss  Beecher,  too, 
had  a  good  mount  and  often  led  a  troup  of  fair 
Amazons  through  pretty  rough  skies.  The  Govern 
or's  Guard  with  their  Major  at  their  head  on  horse 
back,  in  their  cocked  hats,  long  tailed  coats  and  black 
cloth  gaiters  to  the  knee,  looked  as  if  they  might 
have  just  returned  from  Still  Water  or  Saratoga. 

I  send  you  also  a  yellow  old   paper  with  dates, 
which  describes  the  room  of  a  student  of  that  day. 
******* 

I  remain  yours  very  truly, 

J.  BERNARD  GILPIN. 
Mr.  C.  H.  Proctor. 

DIARY. 

My  own  room  in  College,  1830,  Nov.  26. 

Perhaps  one  of  these  days,  looking  back  through  a 
tedious  and  ill  spent  life,  I  may  esteem  these  days 
happy  which  I  am  now  in  such  haste  to  pass  through, 
and  that  whenever  this  takes  place,  I  may  have  some 
memorial  wherewith  to  refresh  my  memory,  I  now 
write  a  faithful  and  accurate  description  of  my  room, 
No.  31  Washington  College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  as 
it  is  this  evening. 


76  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

It  is  a  room  perhaps  20  ft.  by  12  ft.  The  bed 
stands  in  a  recess  on  the  right  side,  across  which  a 
curtain  is  drawn  excluding  it  entirely  from  view  ;  one 
window  looks  out  upon  the  west ;  directly  opposite  to 
it  is  an  open  stove  of  the  kind  called  i  Franklin,'  with 
a  high  and  broad  pipe  reaching  within  a  few  inches 
of  the  ceiling  where  it  enters  into  the  wall.  On  this 
pipe  is  depicted  with  chalk,  a  human  skeleton.  I 
roomed  alone  and  strange  as  it  may  appear,  though  re 
peatedly  requested  by  the  Profs,  to  remove  this  un 
seemly  sight,  I  could  never  do  it,  it  seemed  as  if  I 
should  remove  some  old  companion.  The  stove  is 
firmly  based  upon  a  hearth  of  brick,  around  and 
upon  which  are  lying  a  pair  of  tongs,  shovel,  poker, 
broom,  bellows,  hammer,  &c.,  in  a  state  of  disorder 
which  to  look  upon  would  be  death  to  a  notable 
housewife. 

My  furniture  consists  of  half  a  dozen  chairs,  a  bu 
reau,  and  table  ;  the  latter  stands  before  the  fire, 
upon  it  I  am  now  writing.  The  books  lying  at  this 
moment  upon  it  are  Endfield's  Philosophy,  Political 
Economy,  Simson's  Euclid,  Tylton's  History,  Blair's 
Chronology,  Ramsay's  Universal  History,  The 
Bible,  (I  am  reading  Ramsay,  and  these  last  men 
tioned  books  have  at  different  periods  been  taken 
down  from  my  book  shelf  as  references  when  I  met 
with  anything  I  thought  misstated  or  not  sufficiently 
enlarged  upon;  once  taken  down  it  is  some  time  be 
fore  they  find  their  way  back,)  an  English  and 


PROF.    JIM.  77 

French  Dictionary,  an  atlas,  Morse's  geography  (in 
criticising  a  classmate's  composition  some  weeks 
since  I  had  occasion  to  use  this,)  and  lastly  "  Studies 
of  Poetry,"  containing  extracts  from  Chaucer  down 
ward  to  Percival,  Bryant,  and  Doane. 

I  am  no  great  lover  of  poetry  as  this  sufficiently 
shows,  to  take  up  with  extracts  instead  of  the  whole, 
yet  thanks  to  the  kind  age  in  which  we  live,  I  can  now 
talk  as  learnedly  of  the  ancient  and  modern  poets 
as  the  poor  wretch  who  has  delved  through  the 
whole  of  them,  for  he  will  only  talk  of  the  finest  pas 
sages  and  I  have  got  them  all  in  this  book. 

Now  for  my  ornaments. 

My  walls  are  hung  with  prints,  two  of  Peter  Tertu's 
two  hundred  years  old,  full  of  wild  and  unearthly 
figures,  with  beasts  and  monsters.  Another,  artist 
unknown,  allegorical  of  something  connected  with 
the  discovery  of  America,  I  never  could  tell  exactly 
what.  The  heathen  divinities  are  all  there,  and  a 
great  stiff  figure  clothed  in  Roman  armor,  neverthe 
less  with  a  full-bottom  wig  on  ;  a  head  of  the  surviv 
ing  Horatio,  from  David,  and  a  languishing  litho 
graphic  French  beauty;  these  two  hang  near  each 
other  and  admirably  set  each  other  off,  the  one  all 
whiskers,  beard  and  mustache,  fierce  and  bloody 
looking,  the  other  entirely  free  from  Jhe  least  ex 
pression  whatever. 

Besides  these  I  have  several  pictures;  a  head  in 
oils  of  an  old  man  with  a  voluminous  beard  ;  a  sketch 


78  BIOGRAPHY   OF 

of  the  ruined  tower  of  Newport,  and  two  fancy 
sketches  valuable  on  account  of  the  hand  that  delin 
eated  them.  These  last  are  not  stationary  occupiers 
of  the  wall ;  in  summer  I  move  my  table  to  the  open 
window,  and  they  follow  me  to  that  part  of  the  room  ; 
In  winter  I  get  before  the  fire  and  they  come  too. 

Two  busts,  Franklin  and  Washington,  look  down 
from  their  respective  pedestals.  Several  hanging 
shelves  hold  my  books  and  they  are  surmounted  by 
an  ear  of  corn  maize.  I  always  liked  the  looks  of  an 
ear  of  maize,  considering  it  abstractly  without  think 
ing  of  its  utility  there  is  something  to  me  beautiful 
in  its  form,  and  so  I  plucked  one  from  the  fields  and 
placed  it  over  my  book-case  and  there  it  is  now  with  its 
husk  all  dry  and  withered. 

A  broken  looking-glass  occupies  another  portion  of 
the  walls  and  near  it  is  the  plume  of  my  late  mili 
tary  chum,  which  occupied  a  place  formerly  in  his 
Phalanx  cap  ;  his  pike  is  resting  against  the  wall  hard 
by.  At  some  distance  from  it  are  a  pair  of  skates ; 
my  shooting  apparatus  should  be  with  them  but  I 
have  lent  it.  At  the  opposite  side  are  sundry  pairs  of 
shoes  and  boots ;  my  hat,  cap,  and  several  pairs  of 
gloves  together  with  a  pile  of  books,  a  napkin,  a 
comb  and  several  other  articles  cover  the  top  of  the 
bureau  ;  an  umbrella  stands  near  it.  The  window 
seat  is  spread  with  some  half  dozen  minerals  I  have 
collected  in  my  walks,  a  hair  brush,  a  hone,  a  pair  of 
snuffers  and  two  books,  and  my  cloak  lies  over  the 


PROF.    JIM. 


79 


back  of  a  chair  and  a  coat  upon  it.  And  this  is  a 
faithful  description  of  my  room,  save  that  I  have  for 
gotten  to  mention  in  their  right  places,  a  hoot-jack 
and  a  hickory  stick.  With  what  different  feeling 
shall  1  read  this  twenty  years  hence. 

I  forgot  to  mention  the  room  was  neatly  papered, 
and  that  some  former  occupant  in  a  bit  of  patriotism 
had  written  "  Liberty  "  in  characters  broad  and  long 
upon  the  ceiling. 

J.  B.  G. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


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